Advocacy Kit for
Promoting Multilingual Education:
Including the Excluded
Overview of the Kit
Advocacy kit for promoting multilingual education: Including the excluded.
Bangkok: UNESCO Bangkok, 2007.
5 booklets.
[content: Overview of the kit; Language in education policy and
practice in Asia and the Pacific; Policy makers booklet; Programme
implementers booklet; Community members booklet]
1. Multilingualism. 2. Education policy. 3. Language of instruction.
4. Mother tongue.
ISBN 92-9223-110-3
Cover photo: SIL International
Box photos: SIL International
© UNESCO 2007
Published by the
UNESCO Asia and Pacific Regional Bureau for Education
920 Sukhumvit Road, Prakanong
Bangkok 10110. Thailand
Printed in Thailand
The designations employed and the presentation of material throughout the
publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of
UNESCO concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its
authorities, or concerning its frontiers or boundaries.
APL/06/OS/082-800
Overview of the Kit
Foreword
The Asia and Pacific region is characterized by rich ethnic, cultural, and linguistic diversity. At
the same time, however, this diversity makes educating children from different backgrounds
a major challenge. At the World Education Forum in Dakar in 2000, one of the main agreed
goals was “to ensure that by 2015 all children, particularly girls and children from ethnic
minorities, have access to complete free and compulsory primary education of good quality”.
Another of the goals involved “…improving levels of literacy, particularly among women”.
Achieving these goals and making educational opportunities more equitable means dealing
explicitly with learners from ethnic/linguistic minorities through affirmative measures. Since
effective teaching depends on clear and understandable communication, the language of
instruction is at the heart of any learning process. For this reason, mother tongue-based
instruction is crucial to providing children with early access to education and to enabling
them to participate in learning processes according to their evolving capacities.
Unfortunately, in many countries in this region, the true panorama of languages found
in a nation’s population is rarely reflected in their education systems, and large numbers
of learners are confronted with either a foreign medium of instruction or a language that
is different from their mother tongue. This may be further exacerbated in the case of
certain groups who are already in situations of educational risk or stress, such as illiterates,
minorities and refugees. It is an obvious yet not generally recognized truism that learning in
a language that is not one’s own provides a double set of challenges: not only of learning a
new language but also of learning new knowledge contained in that language.
In some countries in Asia, bi/multilingual education programmes, through non-formal
education, are helping to prepare ethnic/linguistic minority learners for literacy in both
mother tongue and national languages. However, there is a serious lack of recognition and
understanding of the role that bi/multilingual education can play in increasing enrolment,
retention and achievement in the formal school system. This kit advocates making education
systems more responsive to cultural diversity. It provides important insights into the value
of mother tongue-based multilingual education, which respects the rights of children and
learners and encourages readers to think about the importance of language issues and to
investigate them further. It builds on research findings and experiences gained over many
years by many organizations and individuals working on mother tongue-based multilingual
education. I hope you will find the booklets in this kit useful in advocating and gaining
support for mother tongue instruction as a means of improving educational quality as well
as saving the world’s may endangered languages.
Sheldon Shaeffer
Director, UNESCO Asia and Pacific
Regional Bureau for Education
Acknowledgements
The work of preparing this kit was genuinely participatory and involved many education
specialists, experts and others from inside and outside the Asia-Pacific region. Their names are
listed below, and UNESCO Bangkok would like to thank all of them for their contributions.
We sincerely thank members of UNESCO Bangkok’s Advisory Committee on Multilingual
Education for their continued support during the development of the Kit.
We gratefully acknowledge the sources used in the Kit and encourage users to make use of
them, as well.
We also thank participants of the workshop on Mother Tongue/Bilingual Literacy
Programmes for Ethnic Minorities held in December 2005 in Chiang Mai, Thailand, for their
valuable contributions to the improvement of the Kit.
We would like to express our sincere gratitude to all those who shared photos and to
members of ethnic minority communities who agreed to have their photos shared with us.
In addition to UNESCO’s regular programme funds, Japanese Funds-in-Trust supported the
development and dissemination of the Kit. We appreciate this assistance and the benefits it
will have for learners inside and outside the Asia-Pacific region.
Advocacy Kit for Promoting Multilingual Education
Finally, a very special note of appreciation is directed to Dr. Susan Malone, SIL International,
the main author of the Kit. Ochirkhuyag Gankhuyag, Programme Assistant at UNESCO
Bangkok, coordinated the project and dealt with the challenges to its completion in the
past two years.
Listed below are the contributors who provided their valuable time and insights into
completing the Kit. If we have inadvertently forgotten someone, please accept our apologies
and appreciation for your valuable assistance.
Donald Archibald
George Attig
Joel Bacha
Carol Benson
Jean Bernard
Terry Durnnian
Ochirkhuyag Gankhuyag
Abdul Hakeem
Caroline Haddad
Maki Hayashikawa
Vibeke Jensen
Linda King
Kimmo Kosonen
Pamela MacKenzie
Dennis Malone
Susan Malone
Inna Melnikova
Jan Noorlander
Darunee Riewpituk
Karsten van Riezen
R. Sachdeva
Sheldon Shaeffer
Pongsuda Vongsingha
Clive Wing
Catherine Young
Overview of the Kit
Overview of the Kit
Education for All (EFA) means a quality education for all. Since the start of the EFA movement,
many countries have increased their efforts to meet the educational needs of children and
adults. Even though much has been done, certain groups remain excluded – girls and
women, people who are in poverty, disabled, people living with HIV/AIDS and people whose
mother tongue differs from the official/national language.
Can quality education for all be achieved when education is packaged in a language that
some learners neither speak nor understand? This is the situation faced by many children
from ethnic minority groups when they enter formal school systems – the official school
language is very different from the language they speak at home. Forcing children to learn
in a language they do not understand creates an educational handicap that should not
exist.
In some countries in the Asia and Pacific region, bi/multilingual education programmes
established in non-formal education systems help ethnic/linguistic minority learners to
become literate in their own languages and in the national language. But at the national
policy level there is a serious lack of recognition and understanding of the role that bi/
multilingual education can play in increasing enrolment, retention and achievement in the
formal school system. On the other hand, it should be acknowledged that policy makers
and education practitioners are faced with difficult decisions with regard to the language of
instruction when technical and political factors are in competition. Therefore, understanding
the true panorama of providing education in learners’ mother tongue is one of the crucial
steps towards achieving quality education for all.
Who Can Use This Kit?
This kit was prepared for all of those who want to ensure that “Education for All” does,
indeed, include everyone! The kit will be especially valuable for policy makers, education
practitioners and specialists who want to improve access to and quality of education for
those excluded by language. It will also be helpful for speakers of ethnic minority languages
who want to improve the education situation in their own communities.
This kit is designed to raise awareness on the importance of mother tongue-based
multilingual education (MLE). It presents key arguments and facts about MLE and provides
important insights about the value and benefits of providing education in learners’ mother
tongue. The kit also presents ideas, research findings and concrete examples that you can
use to think about your own situation and suggests steps for taking actions to make your
school system more responsive to linguistic diversity.
The kit is not a definitive textbook, and it will not have an answer for every problem that you
might face. To help you as much as possible, at the end of each booklet we have included
lists of references. In addition, each booklet contains a glossary of terms and, at the front of
each booklet is a one-page summary of its contents.
How Can You Use This Kit?
This kit contains three main booklets. Each booklet has a designated audience: 1) policy
makers, 2) education programme planners and practitioners and 3) community members.
Please remember that developing MLE requires contributions from everyone at all levels. For
that reason, we encourage you to use all three booklets along with other available resources
as you work together to plan, implement and sustain your MLE programmes.
This kit can be used in many different ways. For those who are already involved in MLE
programmes, you might use these ideas to help you to promote mother tongue instruction
and strengthen your programme. Those who are not familiar with multilingual education
but want to improve educational access for minority language students might use these
booklets to identify specific points that they can investigate and discuss in their own
contexts.
Glossary of Terms
Each booklet contains its own glossary of terms and there is also a master list of terms used
throughout the kit. Please consult these glossaries as necessary.
Advocacy Kit for Promoting Multilingual Education
A Note for Translators
This kit was developed originally in the English language. But for it to be used widely, it will
need to be translated into different languages and may be adapted to fit different contexts.
For those of you who will be given the task of translating and adapting this kit, please
remember the following important points.
This kit is meant to be user-friendly. For this reason, it is written in an informal, conversational
style, as if you were talking to a person rather than simply writing for her or him. You are
encouraged to use this style in your translation, instead of using a formal – often overly
complicated – one.
Although this kit was written in English, we “pre-tested” it at a regional workshop (December
2005, Chiang Mai, Thailand) to see if it was understandable to persons whose mother tongue
is not English. In order to make it understandable, this kit uses a simple vocabulary. We
intentionally tried not to use complex terms. However, some special terms can be difficult
to translate. For example, terms “multilingual education” or “gender” may not exist in your
language, but it is important to translate them accurately. If you find terms that you are
not sure how to translate, please check with professionals or agencies who may already be
Please include the following statement in your edition: “This kit is a translation and
adaptation of Advocacy Kit on Multilingual Education [ISBN 92-9223-110-3] ©UNESCO
Bangkok”. We seek your cooperation to send two copies of all translations and adaptations
to the following address:
Overview of the Kit
using the terms and may have already translated them. If educators in your country have
not translated the terms (or it is translated inaccurately), check with other national and
international organizations that work in these areas to see how they have translated them.
APPEAL
UNESCO Asia and Pacific Regional Bureau for Education
920 Sukhumvit Road , Bangkok 10110, Thailand
Tel.: (66 2) 391 -577
Fax: (66 2 ) 391 0866
Email: [email protected]
Glossary of Terms – Languages
Dialect
Manner of speaking a language that varies according to region or
social group (see also variety)
Dominant language Language spoken by the dominant social group, or language that
is seen as the main language of a country
spoken by a numerical majority of the national population
Foreign language
Language that is not spoken in the immediate environment of the
learner
Heritage language
Language of a person’s ancestors or ethnolinguistic group
Home language
Language spoken in the home (see also L1, mother tongue)
4 Some people have more than one home language
L1
First language, native language (see also mother tongue, home
language, local language)
4 Refers to language or languages learned from birth
L2
Second language, non-native language, language of wider
communication, or foreign language
Advocacy Kit for Promoting Multilingual Education
4 May have official or national language status even if it is not
4 Often refers to contexts where the language is spoken in the
wider society outside the home; in bilingual education, refers
to second (official, foreign) language introduced after the L1
4 For ethnolinguistic minorities, the L2 is usually an official and/or
national language
Language of instruction Language used for teaching and learning the school curriculum,
also called medium of instruction
Lingua franca Widely spoken language used for communication between
ethnolinguistic groups
Example: Tok Pisin in PNG
Local language Language spoken in the immediate community
4 May refer to languages that are not yet fully developed in
written form
Language spoken by the majority of people in a region/country
Minority language
Language spoken by a social and/or ethnic minority group
4 Sometimes used to refer to the language of a numerically large
group that is not dominant
Overview of the Kit
Majority language Mother tongue (MT) First language, native language (see also L1, home language, local
language)
4 Language that a person: (a) has learnt first; (b) identifies with or
is identified as a native speaker of by others; (c) knows best; or
(d) uses most
National language
Language considered to be an important, widely-spoken language
in a country; sometimes also an official language
Example: India recognizes two official and 22 national languages;
Bahasa Indonesia is both national and official language of Indonesia
Official language
Language adopted by a country for public administrative and
institutional use, often including schools
Example: India has Hindi and English as official languages of the
country and a number of different official state languages
Unwritten language Language that is spoken, but not yet used for reading/writing
Variety
Manner of speaking a language that varies according to region or
social group (see also dialect)
Glossary of Terms – General
Advisory committee Group of leaders committed to supporting an MLE programme
Alienation
Advocacy Kit for Promoting Multilingual Education
4 Usually composed of mother tongue speakers and members of
partner agencies
Being disconnected from one’s own language and culture
4 Minority language speakers in dominant language education may
later reject their own language and culture
Awareness-raising
Providing information that can help people achieve the goals and
needs that they have identified for themselves
Bilingual Individual: Ability to speak/understand (and sometimes read/
write) two languages
Society: Presence of at least two language groups
Bilingual education
Use of two languages for literacy and instruction
4 Ideally, literacy and learning begin with the learner’s first
language,
and a second language is introduced gradually
Competencies
Knowledge, abilities or skills in language or other subjects of the
school curriculum
Curriculum
Teaching plan, content and instructional materials for an
education programme
Dominant group
Most powerful social group of the country due to population
(numerical majority), economics (wealth) and/or politics (power)
Facilitator
Person who helps others to learn; teacher
First Language First MLE
Schooling beginning with the L1 for reading, writing and learning,
while teaching the L2 (see multilingual education)
Fluency
High competence in speaking, reading and/or writing
Gender equality
Situation in which women and men, girls and boys have equal
conditions for realizing their full human rights and contributing
to, and benefiting from, economic, social, cultural and political
development
Person who has not yet had the opportunity to learn reading and
writing in a language she/he understands
Implementation
The process of mobilizing people and resources to carry out a new
programme
Indigenous
Person or group descended from original or early inhabitants of a
region or country
Interculturalism
Promotion of mutual understanding and tolerance between
ethnolinguistic and/or social groups
Language development
In education: Teaching someone to speak, read and write a
language well
In minority language communities: Promoting oral and written use
of a language, for example by expanding its vocabulary, agreeing
on a written form, and creating books and school materials
Language minority
Group of people who share a language and often have less power
in society due to population (numerically fewer), economics (less
wealth) and/or politics
Literacy
Ability to read, write, calculate and otherwise use a language to do
whatever is needed in life
Mainstream
Language and culture of the dominant group
4 Often refers to schools designed for members of the dominant
group that do not meet the needs of linguistic minorities
Migrant
Person or group that has moved from one region to another
Mobilization
The process of organizing a community (and its supporters) to
work together to plan and implement a programme
Multilingual
Individual: Ability to speak/understand (and sometimes read/
write) more than two languages
Society: Presence of more than two language groups
Multilingual Use of more than two languages for literacy and instruction
education (MLE)
4 Ideally this begins with developing the L1 and adding other
languages gradually
Non-Governmental Organization (NGO)
Agency that is not part of any national government, often working
for community development
Orthography Standardized system for writing a language, including a script and
rules for spelling and punctuation (see also writing system)
Overview of the Kit
Illiterate
Advocacy Kit for Promoting Multilingual Education
Partners
Individuals, organizations and agencies that collaborate with
communities to implement a new programme
Submersion
Use of a second/foreign language for all instruction, with little or
no help for learners
Sustainability
Setting up a programme so that it will continue for a long time
Transfer
What is learned in the L1 contributes to competence in other
languages; one only needs to learn to read once
Writing system
Graphic representation of a spoken language (see also
orthography)
Overview of the Kit
References
Benson, C. 2004. The Importance of Mother Tongue-based Schooling for Educational Quality.
Commissioned study for EFA Global Monitoring Report 2005. Paris, UNESCO.
Crystal, D. 1999. The Penguin Dictionary of Language. 2nd Edition. London, Penguin.
Kosonen, K. 2005. Education in Local Languages: Policy and Practice in South-East Asia. In
First Language First: Community-based Literacy Programmes for Minority Language Context
in Asia. Bangkok, UNESCO. pp. 96-134.
Malone, S. 2004. Manual for Developing Literacy and Adult Education Programmes in Minority
Language Communities. Bangkok, UNESCO.
UNESCO. 2004. Gender in Education Network in Asia (GENIA): A Toolkit for Promoting Gender
Equality in Education. Bangkok, UNESCO.
Advocacy Kit for
Promoting Multilingual Education:
Including the Excluded
Language in Education
Policy and Practice
in Asia and the Pacific
Advocacy kit for promoting multilingual education: Including the excluded.
Bangkok: UNESCO Bangkok, 2007.
5 booklets.
[content: Overview of the kit; Language in education policy and
practice in Asia and the Pacific; Policy makers booklet; Programme
implementers booklet; Community members booklet]
1. Multilingualism. 2. Education policy. 3. Language of instruction.
4. Mother tongue.
ISBN 92-9223-110-3
Cover photo: CARE Cambodia
© UNESCO 2007
Published by the
UNESCO Asia and Pacific Regional Bureau for Education
920 Sukhumvit Road, Prakanong
Bangkok 10110. Thailand
Printed in Thailand
The designations employed and the presentation of material throughout the
publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of
UNESCO concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its
authorities, or concerning its frontiers or boundaries.
APL/06/OS/082-800
1. Language in Education Policy and Practice in South-East Asia
Brunei Darussalam
It is estimated that 17 languages are spoken in Brunei. Standard Malay is the official language,
but the most widely used language in the country in Brunei Malay. Languages used as the
medium of instruction are Standard Malay and English. Local languages are not used.
Cambodia
About 20 languages are spoken in Cambodia. The largest ethnic group, the Khmer, make
up approximately 90 percent of the population. In Cambodia, the medium of instruction at
all levels is the national language, Khmer. Recently, several minority languages have been
introduced as the medium of instruction in pilot projects in the eastern highlands. These
projects provide bilingual education in both formal and non-formal systems of education for
adults as well as children. The draft of the education law of 2003 gives ethnic minorities the
right to instruction in their mother tongue. However, the law has not yet been approved.
Indonesia
Indonesia, with more than 700 languages, is linguistically the most diverse country in all of
Asia. The official language, Indonesian, is the medium of instruction at all levels of education,
yet only about ten percent of the population speak Indonesian as their mother tongue. The
constitution and an education act support the use of students’ mother tongues as mediums
of instruction in the early grades. In practice, however, local languages are rarely used
in formal government schools apart from being taught as subjects in some areas. Local
languages are more widely used in non-formal education, particularly in adult literacy.
Lao PDR
The estimated number of languages spoken in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic is 82.
The language of instruction at all levels of education is Lao, the official language, which is
spoken as a mother tongue by about half of the population. At present, local languages are
Language in Education Policy and Practice in Asia and the Pacific
Language in
Education Policy and Practice
in Asia and the Pacific
not used in education; nevertheless, they are widely used in oral form in schools in ethnic
minority areas.
Malaysia
About 140 languages are spoken in Malaysia. Malay is the official national language. Most
schools use Malay as medium of instruction. In ‘national-type’ primary schools, languages
such as Mandarin, Tamil or other Indian languages are used as mediums of instruction. In
Malay-medium schools, Tamil, Mandarin and some indigenous languages can be studied
as subjects. Since the late 1990s, several indigenous groups of East Malaysia have begun
education programmes using local languages, taught mainly as school subjects. However,
these endeavours cannot yet be considered bilingual education because they are not
officially used as mediums of instruction.
Myanmar
More than 100 languages are spoken in the Union of Myanmar. The language of instruction
in the government system of education is Bama (Burmese), the official language, and local
languages are not used in the government system of education. However, local languages
are widely used in non-formal education and adult literacy by civil society organizations
and language communities, particularly in the northern states inhabited predominantly by
ethnolinguistic minorities.
Advocacy Kit for Promoting Multilingual Education
Philippines
Some 170 languages are spoken in the Philippines. Most languages have writing systems,
and there is some literature written in more than 100 of them. English and Filipino are the
official languages of education and literacy for the nation. Local languages have been used
in some government schools as “transitional” or “auxiliary” languages for initial instruction
in early primary grades. However, local languages are mostly used in oral form to explain
the curriculum. Local languages are used more widely in the non-formal sector, with a
focus on adult literacy. Such education projects are usually run by NGOs and community
organizations.
Singapore
More than 20 languages are spoken in Singapore, a nation aiming at societal multilingualism
and bilingualism among its population. Three quarters of the population are ethnic Chinese
speaking many different varieties of Chinese. English is the sole medium of instruction at
all levels of education, and three other official languages, i.e. Malay, Mandarin Chinese and
Tamil, are taught as second languages called “mother tongues”. Speakers of other languages
can freely choose from those offered in the school curriculum, but there is no provision for
education in local languages as such, unlike in most nations in South-East Asia.
More than 70 languages are spoken in Thailand. Standard Thai is the de facto official and
national language of Thailand, and the medium of instruction at all levels of education.
In some areas, local language classes are taught in the “local curriculum” slot. Some local
languages are used in non-formal education, mainly adult literacy, run largely by local
NGOs. Government agencies also support some pilot projects that use local languages in
education. None of these projects, however, can be considered actual bilingual education.
Since 2004, the debate on the use of local languages in education has increased in the
Ministry of Education as well as in the media.
Viet Nam
Approximately 100 languages are spoken in Viet Nam. The national language is Vietnamese,
and it is spoken as the first language (or one of first languages of bilingual people) by
approximately 90 percent of the population. Bilingual education and the use of local
languages in education are strongly supported by various policy documents, yet Vietnamese
remains the main medium of instruction at all levels of education, even in predominantly
non-Vietnamese speaking areas. Local languages are used in education in some areas, and
are mostly studied as subjects, making up as much as 20 percent of the primary education
curriculum. Since 2006, new pilots in some minority languages have been started.
2. Language in Education Policy and Practice in East Asia
People’s Republic of China
More than 200 languages are spoken in the People’s Republic of China. Mandarin Chinese
is the official language. There are laws and policies supporting the use of ethnic minority
languages as medium of instruction in minority areas. However, such policies are not
implemented everywhere, and they apply only to the 55 designated national minorities.
There is a lot of variation in the use of local languages in education, depending on geo­
graphical area and ethnolinguistic group. Some half a dozen local languages are used as
medium of instruction from primary school through high school. In these cases, Mandarin
is taught as a second language. However, the most common bilingual programmes using
local language in China are those which start with the students’ mother tongue, but transfer
to Mandarin fairly quickly. In many minority areas, local languages are taught as a subject at
different levels of education.
Mongolia
It is estimated that 12 languages are spoken in Mongolia. About 90 percent of the population
are Mongols who speak a variety of the official language, either Halh or Khalka Mongolian.
Mongolian is used as the medium of instruction at all levels of education, although English
is playing an increasing role at the university level. Halh Mongolian is spoken as a second
language by practically all ethnic minorities. The constitution of 1992 supports the use of
Language in Education Policy and Practice in Asia and the Pacific
Thailand
minority languages as medium of instruction. However, only Kazakh is currently used in
bilingual education.
Japan
Two indigenous languages are spoken in Japan, Japanese and Ainu, along with 11 distinct
dialects of Japanese-Ryukyuan, regarded by some to be their own family of closely related
languages. Japanese is the national language of Japan, spoken by approximately 99 percent of
the population. In recent decades, immigration trends have seen an increase in the number
of native languages spoken by registered aliens, who now make up 1.4 percent of the total
population. The official language of instruction is Japanese. However, recently the Japanese
Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology issued policies aimed at
the children of immigrants to Japan and non-Japanese to: improve instruction in Japanese
as a second language at schools; provide instruction, where possible, in the students’
mother tongue through team-teaching and other methods; and use the experiences of
non-Japanese or returning Japanese children at schools to improve international and crosscultural understanding between Japanese and non-Japanese students.
3. Language in Education Policy and Practice
in South and West Asia
Afghanistan
Advocacy Kit for Promoting Multilingual Education
About 30 languages are spoken in Afghanistan and eight of them are spoken widely: Pashto,
Dari, Uzbek, Turkmen, Pashae, Nooristani, Balochi and Shighnani. Pashto and Dari are the
national and official languages of Afghanistan and are used as mediums of instruction in all
levels of education. Because the Constitution advocates the mother tongue as a medium of
instruction for basic education, the Ministry of Education plans to use minority languages
in formal and non-formal education, as well as teaching some of the minority languages as
subjects.
Bangladesh
Bangladesh is home to around 40 languages. Bangla is the official and national language
of Bangladesh, and the medium of instruction at all levels of education. Among the
population of more than 140 million, 98% speak Bangla. English is also used as a medium
of instruction in tertiary education. In both governmental and non-governmental schools
and literacy classes, the medium of instruction is Bangla. There is no provision to use socalled tribal languages in these schools. The languages of some ethnolinguistic minority
groups are used orally as “transitional” or “auxiliary” languages to explain the curriculum.
For this reason, many minority groups are facing loss of their linguistic and cultural heritage
and, simultaneously, lack access to relevant education in a language that they speak and
understand. There are 18 languages spoken in Bhutan. Dzongkha is the national language of the country
and is seen as one of the symbols of the kingdom’s unique identity. The medium of instruction
in the government school system is primarily English, but Dzongkha is used in some classes.
Non-formal education is conducted throughout Bhutan in Dzongkha. The government
has commissioned the linguistic description of a number of minority languages, but most
language development efforts are directed toward Dzongkha.
India
There is constant dispute regarding the number of languages versus dialects or varieties
in India. The 1961 census lists 1,652 languages, while the 1991 census lists only 114. The
Ethnologue lists about 430. Presently, 22 languages are listed in the 8th Schedule of the
Constitution, with Hindi listed as the official language, and English the associate official
language.
Several articles in the Constitution of India concern language. Of note is Article 350-A, which
says that “it shall be the endeavour of every state and of every local authority within the state
to provide adequate facilities for instruction in the mother-tongue at the primary stage of
education to children belonging to linguistic minority groups”.
A complicated “three-language formula” was proposed by the Central Advisory Board of
Education in 1957 and was fully endorsed by the chief ministers of the states in 1961. It
covered the teaching of three national languages at different grades. Other than in a few
states such as Orissa and Maharashtra, the formula was violated more often than it was
adhered to.
In the National Curriculum Framework For School Education, which is issued by NCERT every
five years, it is stated that the mother tongue should be the medium of instruction “at all
stages of school education” (NCERT 2000, p. 76). The Framework acts only as advice, not as
legislation.
Education normally takes place in local, regional (Schedule 8) or official languages. It is
considered prestigious to have English as the medium of instruction. Political discussions
are therefore focused on the choice between major Indian languages and English rather
than on use of the mother tongue. Several states with high proportions of so-called tribal
people have made attempts to use tribal languages in education. This has been reasonably
successful in the states of Assam and Nagaland. Attempts in Rajasthan, Orissa and Andra
Pradesh experienced difficulties during the implementation stage, but new attempts are
currently being undertaken.
Nepal
Some 90 languages are spoken in Nepal. The language of instruction in the government
system of education is Nepali, the official language. Many private schools provide Englishmedium education. The Constitution of Nepal suggests that the mother tongue can be
used in the early stages of education, but in fact there has been little implementation of this
Language in Education Policy and Practice in Asia and the Pacific
Bhutan
provision at the grassroots level. As a result of external funding, the Text Book Production
Centre has prepared some basic elementary readers in nine different ethnic languages,
but it is hard to ascertain to what extent these primers are in use. Some NGOs have begun
experimental classes using the mother tongue in non-formal education contexts. There is
a growing awareness of the importance of mother tongue-based education, but current
political unrest makes it difficult to implement changes in local contexts.
Pakistan
Advocacy Kit for Promoting Multilingual Education
Pakistan is a multilingual country with six major and over 57 minor languages. The major
mother tongues are: Punjabi (44%); Pashto (15%); Sindhi (14%); Siraiki (11%); Urdu (8%);
Balochi (4%) and minor languages (5%). The national language is Urdu, while the official
language is English. Urdu is widely used as a second language in urban Pakistan because it
is the medium of instruction in most government schools and religious seminaries. It is also
used in colleges and universities to teach all except scientific and technical subjects. Urdu
is the language of the medium, the lower official domains, commerce and entertainment,
and thus it is more useful for employment than any other Pakistani language. The only
other language which is useful for employment, though only at the lower levels and then
only in parts of Sindh, is Sindhi, which is also used in education, the medium and some
official domains. Pashto is used as medium of instruction in some schools up to Grade 5,
but is not used in most other domains. Only about 2 percent of Pakistanis speak English
competently. Though an additional 15 to 18 percent may have some knowledge of it, it
is the language of all elite domains of power: the government, higher bureaucracy, army
officer corps, medium, higher education, research, commerce, and so on. English is also the
most useful language for would-be emigrants and upwardly mobile people. As such there is
a tremendous demand for English courses, which are available to the elite through private
English-medium schools or schools run by the armed forces (e.g. cadet colleges). State
policies that designate English and Urdu as official languages have put immense pressure
on the other languages of the country, to the extent that smaller languages are becoming
heavily mixed with more powerful languages or endangered.
4. Language in Education Policy and Practice in Central Asia
Kazakhstan
In Kazakhstan, 48 percent of the population are Kazakhs and 34 percent are Russians; in
addition, there are over 120 nationalities. Among them, there are over 800,000 Ukranians,
500,000 Germans, 400,000 Uzbeks, and more than 300,000 Tatars. Kazakh is the state
language and Russian is the official language (which is used alongside the state language).
There are 3,647 (45%) general secondary schools with Kazakh as language of instruction,
2,122 (26%) with Russian, and 2069 (25%) with both Kazakh and Russian. The other 4 percent
of secondary schools are “national-type” schools with Ukrainian, Uighur, Tajik, and Uzbek as
the medium of instruction.
Kyrgyz and Russian are the official languages in Kyrgyzstan. In 2001, the Kyrgyzstan legislature
declared Russian as an official language, equal in status to Kyrgyz. The population is made
up of Kyrgyz (52%), Russian (18%), Uzbek (13%), Ukrainian (3%), German (2%) and other
(12%). There are schools with Kyrgyz (66%), Russian (7%), Uzbek (7%), and mixed Russian
and Kyrgyz (20%) as languages of instruction.
Tajikistan
Tajik is the state language of Tajikistan, while Russian is the language used for inter-ethnic
communication. All ethnic groups have the right to speak their mother tongues. Tajik
and Russian are used in the mass media. Most schools use Tajik and Russian as mediums
of instruction. However, there some schools for ethnic minorities that use Uzbek, Kazakh,
Turkmen and others. Seventy-three percent of secondary school students receive their
education in Tajik, but for 24 percent of secondary school students, Uzbek is the medium of
instruction, 2 percent in Russian, and others are educated in Kyrgyz, Kazakh and Turkmen
schools.
Language in Education Policy and Practice in Asia and the Pacific
Kyrgyzstan
Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan is a multiethnic and multilingual country with more than 100 languages. Based
on the provisions of the Constitution of Uzbekistan, equal legal status, rights, freedoms and
opportunities are guaranteed regardless of sex, race, ethnic origin, language, religion, social
background, convictions, personal or social status (Article 18). The education of children
from ethnic and linguistic minorities is an important policy issue. So far, the government
has maintained its political commitment to provide basic education in the seven national
languages, including Uzbek. At present, over 10 percent of schools in Uzbekistan provide
instruction in the languages of ethnic minorities (Russian, Kazakh, Tajik, Karakalpak, Turkmen,
and Kyrgyz), accounting for about 15 percent of the total enrolment in basic education.
5. Language in Education Policy and Practice in the Pacific
Papua New Guinea
About 850 languages are spoken in Papua New Guinea (PNG), where pre-school and early
primary education are provided in some 350-400 languages. No other country in the world
uses local languages as widely as PNG. Previously, the formal education system used English
as the medium of instruction, but based on positive experiences in using local languages in
non-formal education, the formal system was reformed. In the new system, the first three
years of formal education is taught in the mother tongue of the learner. English becomes
the medium at later grades. Elementary schools that use local languages are run by local
communities. Reasons for the successful use of local languages include strong community
participation, decentralisation, local relevance, cost-effectiveness, and the active role of
NGOs.
Source: www.ethnologue.com
Advocacy Kit for
Promoting Multilingual Education:
Including the Excluded
Policy Makers Booklet
Advocacy kit for promoting multilingual education: Including the excluded.
Bangkok: UNESCO Bangkok, 2007.
5 booklets.
[content: Overview of the kit; Language in education policy and
practice in Asia and the Pacific; Policy makers booklet; Programme
implementers booklet; Community members booklet]
1. Multilingualism. 2. Education policy. 3. Language of instruction.
4. Mother tongue.
ISBN 92-9223-110-3
Cover photo: SIL International
© UNESCO 2007
Published by the
UNESCO Asia and Pacific Regional Bureau for Education
920 Sukhumvit Road, Prakanong
Bangkok 10110. Thailand
Printed in Thailand
The designations employed and the presentation of material throughout the
publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of
UNESCO concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its
authorities, or concerning its frontiers or boundaries.
APL/06/OS/082-800
Booklet for Policy Makers
Booklet for Policy Makers
Introduction
Since UNESCO first initiated its programme of Education for All in 1990, many governments
have increased their efforts to meet the educational needs of children and adults in their
countries. Although much has been done, certain groups remain under-served – girls and
women, in general, people who are poor, people with special needs, people with HIV/AIDS,
and people who speak non-dominant or minority languages.
Whether they are from indigenous or migrant communities, learners who do not understand
the official language are at a great disadvantage when they begin school:
It is an obvious, yet not generally recognised truism that learning in a language
which is not one’s own provides a double set of challenges: not only of learning a new
language but also of learning new knowledge contained in that language. These
challenges may be further exacerbated in the case of certain groups who are already
in situations of educational risk or stress such as illiterates, minorities and refugees.1
The best way to overcome these challenges is through “mother tongue-based multilingual
education” (MLE). In strong MLE programmes, learners from non-dominant language
communities use their own language for learning in the early grades as they are also
learning the official language as a subject. As the learners gain competence in speaking,
reading and writing the national language, teachers begin using it for teaching. The best
MLE programmes encourage learners to use both languages for communication and for
learning throughout primary school.
UNESCO’s recognition of the important relationship between language and education is
clear in the organization’s three-part rationale for supporting multilingual education:
1. UNESCO supports mother tongue instruction as a means of improving educational
quality by building upon the knowledge and experience of the learners and
teachers.
2. UNESCO supports bilingual and/or multilingual education at all levels of
education as a means of promoting both social and gender equality and as a key
element of linguistically diverse societies.
1
UNESCO. 2003. Education in a Multilingual World. Paris, UNESCO.
3. UNESCO supports language as an essential component of inter-cultural education
in order to encourage understanding between different population groups and
ensure respect for fundamental rights.2
The rest of this booklet provides further information about mother tongue-based MLE
programmes. Questions that are frequently asked about MLE serve as headings for the
different sections. Answers to the questions include quotations from educators, government
officials, researchers, and people from minority language communities around the world.
Questions and Responses:
Language and Education in Minority Language Communities
Q1. What is the educational situation for members of non-dominant or minority
language communities?
Many members of non-dominant or minority language communities, especially those
living in remote areas, face significant challenges when they try to get a good quality basic
education:
n
Some have no access to school at all; others have access to schools, but not to
trained teachers – or teachers of any kind.
n Even
if schools are adequately staffed, many of the teachers use a language that
the learners do not understand.
n Textbooks and lessons focus on the language and culture of the dominant group.
If
the learners are unfamiliar with that culture, as many are, it is very difficult for them
to understand the concepts that are being communicated.
n Teachers who come from the dominant language society may consider the learners
Advocacy Kit for Promoting Multilingual Education
“slow”. They may fail to appreciate – or may even look down on – the learners’
heritage language and culture.
For these learners, school is often an unfamiliar place teaching unfamiliar concepts in an
unfamiliar language. Such was the case described by an educator who visited a classroom in
a minority language community in India in which Hindi was the language of instruction:
The children seemed totally disinterested in the teacher’s monologue. They stared
vacantly at the teacher and sometimes at the blackboard where some [letters] had
been written. Clearly aware that the children could not understand what he was
saying, the teacher proceeded to provide even more detailed explanation in a much
louder voice.
2 UNESCO. 2003. Education in a Multilingual World. Paris, UNESCO.
Booklet for Policy Makers
© SIL International
Later, tired of speaking and realizing that the young children were completely lost,
he asked them to start copying the [letters] from the blackboard. “My children are
very good at copying from the blackboard. By the time they reach Grade 5, they can
copy all the answers and memorize them. But only two of the Grade 5 students can
actually speak Hindi,” said the teacher.3
Forcing children, or adults, to attend schools that use a language they neither speak
nor understand hinders rather than helps them to develop their potential as productive
members of society. When lessons constantly focus on the world outside their community
and ignore all that they know and have experienced, the not-so-hidden message is that
their own language, culture and experiences have no value. This is how schooling causes
children to lose respect for their community, their parents and themselves. One parent in
Papua New Guinea has described such a situation in this way:
3 Jhingran, D. 2005. Language Disadvantage. The Learning Challenge in Primary Education. New Delhi, A. P. H.
Publishing.
When children go to school, they go to an alien place. They leave their parents,
they leave their gardens, they leave everything that is their way of life. They sit in a
classroom and they learn things that have nothing to do with their own place. Later,
because they have learned only other things, they reject their own.4
The result, in many cases, is that learners who want to succeed in the formal education
system can do so only at great cost, by sacrificing their linguistic and cultural heritage:
They [language minority communities] are allowed into that mainstream life – if
at all – only by leaving behind their ethnic and linguistic identity and taking on
the language and culture of the dominant society. This is not a new process. It is
the long, well-known, well-documented, and sad history of minority communities
throughout the world.5
Q2. How does mother tongue-based multilingual education (MLE) improve the educational
situation for learners who do not understand or speak the official language when they
begin school?
Mother tongue-based MLE programmes enable learners to begin their education in the
language they know best. As they use their own language for learning, they are introduced
to the new (official) language and begin learning to communicate in that language. At
the same time, teachers help the learners develop their academic vocabulary in the new
language so they can understand and talk about more abstract concepts.6 In the best
programmes, learners continue to develop their ability to communicate and to learn in both
languages throughout primary school.
Advocacy Kit for Promoting Multilingual Education
The “steps” below help to illustrate the progression of language learning in strong MLE
programmes:
4 Delpit, L. D. and Kemelfield, G. 1985. An Evaluation of the Viles Tok Ples Skul Scheme in the North Solomons
Province. ERU Report No. 51. Waigani, Papua New Guinea, University of Papua New Guinea.
5 Shaeffer, S. 2003. (7-9 November) Language Development and Language Revitalisation: An Educational
Imperative in Asia. International Conference on Language Development, Language Revitalization and
Multilingual Education. Bangkok, Thailand.
6 This process is based on the educational principle that concepts learned in one language are easily
transferred to another language once the learners have developed the necessary vocabulary in the new
language. (See Cummins, J. 2000. Bilingual Children’s Mother Tongue: Why Is It Important for Education?)
Introduce reading and writing in L2
Continue building oral and written L1 and oral L2
Begin using L2 for teaching and learning, with help from L1
Introduce official language (L2) orally7
Continue building oral and written L1
Use L1 for teaching and learning
Booklet for Policy Makers
p
Continue building oral and written competence in both languages
Use L2 with L1 for teaching and learning
Introduce reading and writing in L1
Continue building oral L1
Use L1 for teaching and learning
Build competence and confidence in home language (L1) orally
(for children who are just beginning school)
Use home language (L1) for teaching and learning
Having established an educational foundation in their home language, students begin
learning the new language, first orally and then in written form. They do not stop using
their first language as soon as they have achieved basic competency in the new language. Rather, they continue using both languages for learning, at least through primary school:
When children continue to develop their abilities in two or more languages throughout
their primary school years, they gain a deeper understanding of language and how
to use it effectively. They have more practice in processing language, especially when
they develop literacy in both, and they are able to compare and contrast the ways in
which their two languages organize reality.8
The most important features of this process are that:
n
Education begins with what the learners already know, building on the language
and culture, knowledge and experience that they bring with them when they start
school;
n
Learners gradually gain confidence in using the new (official) language, before it
becomes the only language for teaching academic subjects; and
n
Learners achieve grade level competence in each subject because teachers use their
home language, along with the official school language, to help them understand
the academic concepts.
7 Some researchers find that the L2 can be introduced early, as long as teachers continue to use the
children’s home language as one of the languages of instruction throughout primary school.
8 Cummins, J. 2000. Bilingual Children’s Mother Tongue: Why is it Important for Education?
iteachilearn.com/cummins/mother.htm (Accessed on 17 November 2006)
http://www.
© SIL International
Advocacy Kit for Promoting Multilingual Education
Q3. What is the relationship between mother tongue-based MLE and development in
general? Education programmes that exclude certain segments of the population make it difficult
for those groups to take an active role in local or national development because such
education
… does little to equip them [students] with the knowledge, skills and attitudes
necessary to contribute positively to community or national development.9
Education-for-development should ensure that all learners – no matter which home
languages they speak – can develop to their fullest potential and contribute to their own
well-being as well as to that of their community and their nation:
9 Department of Education. 1991. Education Sector Review. Waigani, Papua New Guinea, Department of
Education.
The five million people of PNG speak over 800 distinct languages. Until 1993, English was the language
of the formal education system. Recognizing the negative impact of English-only education, the PNG
government revised its entire primary education system in 1995. By 2005, mother tongue-based MLE
programs had been established in over 400 of Papua New Guinea’s 800+ languages.
Booklet for Policy Makers
The principle objective of a nation, we believe, should be to encourage and facilitate
the development of all its members and the larger system(s) of which it is a part…
National development is not so much a matter of what governments do as it is of
what they enable the governed to do.10
© UNESCO/D. Riewpituk
All cultural groups, large and small, have acquired strategies for making the most of the
world in which they live. Every language has the ability to communicate the knowledge
and wisdom its speakers have developed over generations. The nation as a whole benefits
when people from a variety of cultural backgrounds, speaking different languages and
having different perspectives, share their ideas and plan together for a common future. One
of the long-term goals of strong MLE programmes in non-dominant language communities
is to ensure that their members will gain the knowledge, skills and confidence to participate
in and contribute to the development of the nation as a whole:
Our greatest national resource is the diversity of cultures in our country. Diversity
means more viewpoints to clarify, more ways of solving problems, more creative
ideas, a greater ability to deal with change… Where diversity is crushed…the nation
becomes weak and divided.11
10 Gharagedaghi, J. 1986. A Prologue to National Development Planning. New York, Greenwood Press.
11 Dr. John Waiko, Minister of Education PNG, 2001.
Government support for strong MLE programmes demonstrates to all citizens that minority
languages, and those who speak the languages, are valued. MLE programmes that help
learners to build a good “bridge” between their home language and the official languages
help to build national unity without forcing people to sacrifice their unique linguistic
and cultural heritage. Experiences around the world have demonstrated that denying or
suppressing people’s linguistic and cultural heritage has been a cause for division and strife.
MLE supports unity through affirming diversity rather than instead of diversity.
Q4. What is the relationship between mother tongue-based MLE and gender equality?
In 1993, linguistic researcher Corson found that the three groups most affected by unjust
language policies and planning in education are women and girls, the poor, and groups with
languages not represented in formal structures. The injustice is clearly greatest for those
who experience all three conditions simultaneously. Gender research has demonstrated
that unless girls and women are working in markets or factories, they are much less likely
than boys and men to be exposed to an official language because their lives are more often
restricted to the home and family where the local language is spoken. This means that girls
are less likely than boys to understand school instruction. Unfortunately, this difference
goes unnoticed because girls are given fewer opportunities to speak and are expected
to perform less well than boys. In spite of increasing international awareness of the need
to achieve gender equality in education, girls are still more likely than boys to be denied
access to schooling, and girls from minority language communities are frequently the most
disadvantaged of all.
Multilingual education provides more opportunities for girls to get a good education.
Advocacy Kit for Promoting Multilingual Education
Gender considerations cross cut…situations of educational risk, for girls and women
may be in a particularly disadvantaged position. In most traditional societies, it is
the girls and women who tend to be monolingual, being less exposed either through
schooling, salaried labour, or migration to the national language, than their sons,
brothers or husbands.12
Mother tongue-based multilingual education provides specific benefits for girls from
minority language communities:
n
Parents may be more confident in putting their girls in schools that teach the
community language, and, by association, a familiar culture and set of values.
In addition, parents have access to information about enrollment and schooling
processes in their language. Girls may be encouraged to stay in school longer if
their language continues to be used, along with the official language.
n
MLE programmes encourage communication between parents and teachers,
enabling more community participation in school activities. This helps to ensure
that schools respond to community needs and values.
12 UNESCO. 2003. Education in a Multilingual World. Paris, UNESCO.
Booklet for Policy Makers
© BUNYAD
n
Male teachers who come from the same linguistic and cultural communities as
their students may be less likely to exploit their female students because they are
more subject to social control. Teachers who interact socially with students’ families
are potentially more trustworthy and/or more subject to social control, reducing
the risk that they will abuse girls sexually or otherwise.
n
Because girls can communicate as freely as boys in their home language, they are
able to demonstrate in the classroom that they learn as well as boys. Teachers are
more likely to see that they should give girls the same opportunities that they give
boys.
n
Opportunities to teach in their home communities, with teacher training close
by, encourages more women to become teachers. This provides female students
with more role models and also provides more women with income-earning
opportunities.13
13 Benson, C. 2005. Mother Tongue-based Teaching and Education for Girls. Bangkok, UNESCO. http://unesdoc.
unesco.org/images/0014/001420/142079e.pdf (Accessed on 17 November 2006)
Q5. What about cost? Are multilingual education programmes expensive to implement
and maintain?
Some people oppose mother tongue-based MLE because they think that it will be too
expensive to implement and maintain. However, studies in the field of language economics,
analyzing the cost of language-related public policies, have found that MLE programmes
have a very reasonable cost, especially given their long-term benefits:
[T]he added expenditure entailed by moving from a monolingual to a bilingual
education system is much smaller than commonly believed. Where evaluations have
been made, they point in the direction of a 3-4 percent range, because even if the
education system were to remain monolingual, children would have to be schooled
anyway. Therefore, only comparatively modest additional financial outlays need to
be factored in.14
Perhaps it would help to put this issue into perspective if, rather than asking how much
MLE costs, we ask: What is the cost of an educational system that results in failure for most
learners who do not speak the official language at home?
10
If we compare the cost of establishing an MLE programme with the social and economic
costs of inadequate or failed education for minority language learners, it is clear that
multilingual education is a wise long-term investment, as some World Bank studies on costeffectiveness have shown. For example, one study using Ministry of Education data from
Guatemala compared the repetition and drop-out rates of two groups of Mayan students
– one in a bilingual education programme and the other in an L2 (Spanish-only) programme
and found the following:
Advocacy Kit for Promoting Multilingual Education
A shift to bilingual schooling would result in considerable cost savings, as a result of
the reduced repetitions, saving the government more than 31 million quetzals (U.S.
$5 million), which equals the cost of providing primary education to about 100,000
students per year.15
Another study using data from Guatemala and Senegal found that the cost of publishing in
local languages represents only a fraction of a percent of the recurring education budget
(0.13% in the case of Guatemala), and startup costs can be recovered after two to three
years.16
14 Grin, F. Economic Considerations in Language Policy. 2005. Ricento, T. (ed). 2005. An Introduction to
Language Policy: Theory and Method. Oxford, Basil Blackwell.
15 Dutcher, N. 2004. Expanding Educational Opportunities in Linguistically Diverse Countries. Washington D.C.,
Center of Applied Linguistics. http://www.cal.org/resources/pubs/fordreport_040501.pdf (Accessed on 17
November 2006)
16 Vawda, A. Y. and Patrinos, H. A. 1998. Cost of Producing Educational Materials in Local Languages. Washington
D.C.: World Bank.
Booklet for Policy Makers
© UNESCO/D. Riewpituk
Q6. What are the features of a strong and sustainable MLE programme?
MLE programmes require innovative thinking and cooperation among individuals,
organizations and agencies – the “stakeholders” in the programme. The graphic below
displays the “essential components” of the strongest programmes.17
Although policymakers are not usually involved in the actual implementation of mother
tongue-based MLE programmes, their active support is essential for the programmes’ longterm success. One of their most important contributions is in establishing a political climate
that supports strong mother tongue-based MLE. There is more international recognition
than ever before that language and education policies are essential to providing access to
better quality schooling for all, including those who speak non-dominant languages.18
17 Adapted from Malone, S. 2005. Planning community-based education programs in minority language
communities. Resource manual for mother tongue speakers of minority languages engaged in planning
and implementing education programs in their own communities.
18 Alidou, H., Boly, A., Brock-Utne, B., Diallo, Y. S., Heugh, K. and Wolff, H. E. 2006. Optimizing Learning and
Education in Africa: The Language Factor. A Stock-Taking Research on Mother Tongue and Bilingual
Education in Sub-Saharan Africa. Paris, Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA).
www.adeanet.org/biennial-2006/doc/document/B3_1_MTBLE_en.pdf (Accessed 17 November 2006)
11
Supportive political
environment
Cooperation among
supporting agencies
Advocacy Kit for Promoting Multilingual Education
Awareness-raising
and mobilization at local,
state, national and
international levels
Essential features
of a strong and sustained
MLE programme
Evaluation and
documentation of each
component of the
programme, including
learners’ academic
MLE staff
progress
with the training
and support needed
for long-term
success
12
Preliminary research to
collect information for
planning the programme
Orthographies/writing
systems that are
acceptable to the speakers
and to the appropriate
government agencies
Teaching and learning
materials that build
Graded reading
on the learners’ language
materials in the
and culture and ensure
learners’ home language
that they achieve
and in the official
grade level competencies
language
in each subject
With respect to creating a supportive political environment, the best policies are those
that establish multilingual education as an integral part of both formal and non-formal
education systems and include clear directives for implementation and support. Important
policy decisions include:
n
Stating clearly which grades in primary school (and ideally, in secondary school)
will be included in the programme.
n
Institutionalizing the programme by establishing structures within an appropriate
government agency to take responsibility for coordinating implementation and
support.
n
Establishing on-going sources of funding that are specifically designated for the
MLE programme.
Policymakers also contribute to the success of mother tongue-based MLE by fostering
an atmosphere of cooperation among all the supporting agencies – government, NGOs,
universities and others – in working with local communities to develop and sustain strong
programmes. A third and essential activity is helping to ensure that adequate funding is
provided for planning, implementing and sustaining the MLE programme at national, subnational and community levels.
With encouragement and support from UNESCO, UNICEF and other multilateral and bilateral
agencies, mother tongue-based MLE programmes have been and continue to be established
throughout the world. In the Asia and Pacific region, programmes have been implemented
or are being planned in Papua New Guinea, China, Thailand, Cambodia, Bangladesh, India
and Solomon Islands, to name only a few. The hope is that these programmes will “light
the path” for others who recognize the need but have not yet taken the steps to ensure that
“Education for All” will, indeed, be for everyone.
Booklet for Policy Makers
Q7. Can it be done? Can strong mother tongue-based MLE programmes be established
and sustained?
13
© Arief Arianto (Indonesia), provided by the Asia/Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU), Tokyo
UNESCO’s Principles on Language and Education
19
Principle I:
UNESCO supports mother-tongue instruction as a means of improving educational
quality by building upon the knowledge and experience of the learners and teachers.
1) Mother-tongue instruction is essential for initial instruction and literacy and should
be extended to as late a stage as possible.
2) Literacy can only be maintained if there is an adequate supply of reading material,
for adolescents and adults as well as for school children.
3) [All] educational planning should include at each stage early provision for training,
and further training, of sufficient numbers of fully competent and qualified teachers
of the country concerned who are familiar with the life of their people and able to
teach in the mother tongue.
14
Principle II:
UNESCO supports bilingual and/or multilingual education at all levels of education
as a means of promoting both social and gender equality, and as a key element of
linguistically diverse societies.
Advocacy Kit for Promoting Multilingual Education
1) Communication, expression and the capacity to listen and dialogue [should be
encouraged] first of all in the mother tongue, then, [if the mother tongue is different
from the official or national languages] in the official [or national] language in the
country, as well as in one or more foreign languages.
2) Emphasis should be given to the formulation of strong national policies designed
to promote…languages teaching in cyberspace [and strengthening and extension
of international support and assistance to developing countries] to facilitate the
development of freely accessible materials on language education in the electronic
form and to enhance human capital skills in this area.
19 UNESCO. 2003. Education in a Multilingual World. Paris, UNESCO.
1) Measures should be taken to eliminate discrimination in education at all levels on
the basis of gender, race, language, religion, national origin, age or disability or any
other factor.
Booklet for Policy Makers
Principle III:
UNESCO supports language as an essential component of inter-cultural education in
order to encourage understanding between different population groups and ensure
respect for fundamental rights.
2) The educational rights of persons belonging to… minorities, as well as indigenous
peoples, should be fully respected through:
n
the implementation of the right to learn in the mother tongue and the full use
of culturally-appropriate teaching methods of communication and transmission
of knowledge;
n
the teaching of and through, not only the MT, but also the national or official
languages…so that minorities and indigenous peoples will have the opportunity
to participate in and contribute to the larger community.
3) Education should raise awareness of the positive value of cultural [and linguistic]
diversity, and to this end:
n
Curriculum [should] promote a realistic and positive inclusion of the minority
[or indigenous] history, culture, language and identity.
n
The cultural component of language teaching and learning should be
strengthened in order to gain a deeper understanding of other cultures;
languages should not be simple linguistic exercises, but opportunities to reflect
on other ways of life, other literature, and other customs.
15
References
Alidou, H., Boly, A., Brock-Utne, B., Diallo, Y. S., Heugh, K. and Wolff, H. E. 2006. Optimizing
Learning and Education in Africa: The Language Factor. A Stock-Taking Research on
Mother Tongue and Bilingual Education in Sub-Saharan Africa. Paris, Association for the
Development of Education in Africa (ADEA). www.adeanet.org/biennial-2006/doc/
document/B3_1_MTBLE_en.pdf (Accessed 17 November 2006)
Benson, C. 2005. Mother Tongue-based Teaching and Education for Girls. Bangkok, UNESCO.
http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0014/001420/142079e.pdf (Accessed on 17
November 2006)
Cummins, J. 2000. Bilingual Children’s Mother Tongue: Why is it Important for Education? http://
www.iteachilearn.com/cummins/mother.htm (Accessed on 17 November 2006)
16
Delpit, L. D. and Kemelfield, G. 1985. An Evaluation of the Viles Tok Ples Skul Scheme in the
North Solomons Province. ERU Report No. 51. Waigani, Papua New Guinea, University of
Papua New Guinea.
Department of Education. 1991. Education Sector Review. Waigani, Papua New Guinea,
Department of Education.
Dutcher, N. 2004. Expanding Educational Opportunities in Linguistically Diverse Countries.
Washington D.C., Center of Applied Linguistics. http://www.cal.org/resources/pubs/
fordreport_040501.pdf (Accessed on 17 November 2006)
Advocacy Kit for Promoting Multilingual Education
Gharagedaghi, J. 1986. A Prologue to National Development Planning. New York, Greenwood
Press.
Grin, F. Economic Considerations in Language Policy. 2005. Ricento, T. (ed). 2005. An
Introduction to Language Policy: Theory and Method. Oxford, Basil Blackwell.
Jhingran, D. 2005. Language Disadvantage. The Learning Challenge in Primary Education. New
Delhi: A. P. H. Publishing.
Malone, S. 2005. Planning community-based education programs in minority language
communities. Resource manual for mother tongue speakers of minority languages
engaged in planning and implementing education programs in their own communities.
Shaeffer, S. 2003. (7-9 November) Language Development and Language Revitalisation: An
Educational Imperative in Asia. International Conference on Language Development,
Language Revitalization and Multilingual Education. Bangkok, Thailand. http://www.sil.
org/asia/ldc/plenary_papers/sheldon_shaeffer.pdf (Accessed on 17 November 2006)
UNESCO. 2003. Education in a Multilingual World. Paris, UNESCO. http://unesdoc.unesco.org/
images/0012/001297/129728e.pdf (Accessed on 17 November 2006)
Vawda, A. Y. and Patrinos, H. A. 1998. Cost of Producing Educational Materials in Local
Languages. Washington D.C.: World Bank.
Booklet for Policy Makers
UNESCO. 2000. The EFA 2000 Assessment: Papua New Guinea Country Report. http://www2.
unesco.org/wef/countryreports/papua_new_guinea/contents.html (Accessed on 17
November 2006)
Waiko, J. 1997. The Value of Traditional Knowledge in the 21st Century. Waigani Seminar.
Waigani, Papua New Guinea, University of Papua New Guinea. http://www.pngbuai.com/
600technology/information/waigani/w97-keynote.html (Accessed on 17 November 2006)
Waters, G., Dondorp, A., Stillings, I., Wemin, J., Keruwa, R., Stefaniw, R. and Thomas, S. 1995. A
Survey of Vernacular Education Programming at the Provincial Level within Papua New Guinea.
Ukarumpa, Papua New Guinea, SIL International.
17
Glossary of Terms – Languages
Dominant language Language spoken by the dominant social group, or language that
is seen as the main language of a country
4 May have official or national language status even if it is not
18
Foreign language
Language that is not spoken in the immediate environment of the
learner
Heritage language
Language of a person’s ancestors or ethnolinguistic group
Home language
Language spoken in the home (see also L1, mother tongue)
4 Some people have more than one home language
L1
First language, native language (see also mother tongue, home
language, local language)
4 Refers to language or languages learned from birth
L2
Second language, non-native language, language of wider
communication, or foreign language
Advocacy Kit for Promoting Multilingual Education
spoken by a numerical majority of the national population
4 Often refers to contexts where the language is spoken in the wider
society outside the home; in bilingual education, refers to second
(official, foreign) language introduced after the L1
4For ethnolinguistic minorities, the L2 is usually an official and/or
Language of instruction
Language used for teaching and learning the school curriculum,
also called medium of instruction
Local language
Language spoken in the immediate community
national language
4May refer to languages that are not yet fully developed in written
form
Majority language
Language spoken by the majority of people in a region/country
Minority language
Language spoken by a social and/or ethnic minority group
4Sometimes used to refer to the language of a numerically large
group that is not dominant
4 Language that a person: (a) has learnt first; (b) identifies with or
is identified as a native speaker of by others; (c) knows best; or
(d) uses most
National language
Language considered to be an important, widely-spoken language
in a country; sometimes also an official language
Example: India recognizes two official and 22 national languages;
Bahasa Indonesia is both national and official language of
Indonesia
Official language
Language adopted by a country for public administrative and
institutional use, often including schools
Example: India has Hindi and English as official languages of the
country and a number of different official state languages
Booklet for Policy Makers
Mother tongue (MT) First language, native language (see also L1, home language, local
language)
19
Glossary of Terms – General
Alienation
Advocacy Kit for Promoting Multilingual Education
20
Being disconnected from one’s own language and culture
4 Minority language speakers in dominant language education may
later reject their own language and culture
Awareness-raising
Providing information that can help people achieve the goals and
needs that they have identified for themselves
Bilingual
Individual: Ability to speak/understand (and sometimes read/
write) at least two languages
Society: Presence of at least two language groups
Competencies
Knowledge, abilities or skills in language or other subjects of the
school curriculum
Curriculum
Teaching plan, content and instructional materials for an education
programme
Dominant group
Most powerful social group of the country due to population
(numerical majority), economics (wealth) and/or politics (power)
First Language First MLE
Schooling beginning with the L1 for reading, writing and learning,
while teaching the L2 (see multilingual education)
Gender equality
Situation in which women and men have equal conditions
for realizing their full human rights and for contributing to,
and benefiting from, economic, social, cultural and political
development.
Illiterate
Person who has not yet had the opportunity to learn reading and
writing in a language she/he understands
Implementation
The process of mobilizing people and resources to carry out a new
programme
Indigenous
Person or group descended from original or early inhabitants of a
region or country
Interculturalism
Promotion of mutual understanding and tolerance between
ethnolinguistic and/or social groups
Language minority
Group of people who share a language and often have less power
in society due to population (numerically fewer), economics (less
wealth) and/or politics
Ability to read, write, calculate and otherwise use a language to do
whatever is needed in life
Mainstream
Language and culture of the dominant group
4 Often refers to schools designed for members of the dominant
Migrant
Person or group that has moved from one region to another
Mobilization
The process of organizing a community (and its supporters) to
work together to plan and implement a programme
Multilingual
Individual: Ability to speak/understand (and sometimes read/
write) more than two languages
Society: Presence of more than two language groups
group that do not meet the needs of linguistic minorities
Booklet for Policy Makers
Literacy
Use of more than two languages for literacy and instruction
Multilingual
education (MLE)
4Ideally this begins with developing the L1 and adding other
languages gradually
Non-governmental
Organization (NGO)
Agency that is not part of any national government, often working
for community development
Orthography Standardized system for writing a language, including a script and
rules for spelling and punctuation (see also writing system)
Sustainability
Setting up a programme so that it will continue for a long time
Transfer
What is learned in the L1 contributes to competence in other
languages; one only needs to learn to read once
Writing system
Graphic representation of a spoken language (see also
orthography)
21
Advocacy Kit for
Promoting Multilingual Education:
Including the Excluded
Programme Implementers
Booklet
Advocacy kit for promoting multilingual education: Including the excluded.
Bangkok: UNESCO Bangkok, 2007.
5 booklets.
[content: Overview of the kit; Language in education policy and
practice in Asia and the Pacific; Policy makers booklet; Programme
implementers booklet; Community members booklet]
1. Multilingualism. 2. Education policy. 3. Language of instruction.
4. Mother tongue.
ISBN 92-9223-110-3
Cover photo: SIL International
© UNESCO 2007
Published by the
UNESCO Asia and Pacific Regional Bureau for Education
920 Sukhumvit Road, Prakanong
Bangkok 10110. Thailand
Printed in Thailand
The designations employed and the presentation of material throughout the
publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of
UNESCO concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its
authorities, or concerning its frontiers or boundaries.
APL/06/OS/082-800
Booklet for Programme Implementers
Booklet for Programme
Implementers
Introduction
Fifty percent of the world’s out-of-school children live in communities where the
language of schooling is rarely, if ever, used at home. This underscores the biggest
challenge to achieving Education for All: a legacy of non-productive practices that
lead to low levels of learning and high levels of dropout and repetition.1
This booklet is about education programmes that meet the learning needs of people who
speak non-dominant or minority languages – those described in the quotation above. This
booklet uses a question and answer format to discuss the following general topics:
n
Educational situation for people who do not speak official school languages
n
Definition and purpose of “mother tongue-based multilingual education” (MLE)
programmes.
n
Process of building a strong educational foundation in students’ first language and
a good “bridge” to the official school language
n
Planning and implementing effective MLE programmes
Questions and Responses:
Language and Education in Minority Language Communities
Q1: What is the educational situation for people who do not speak official school
languages?
People whose home languages are different from official school languages are likely to
suffer from a lack of educational access and/or quality:
1 World Bank. 2005. Education Notes. In Their Own Language: Education for All. Washington D.C., World Bank.
http://siteresources.worldbank.org/EDUCATION/Resources/Education-Notes/EdNotes_Lang_of_Instruct.
pdf (Accessed on 17 November 2006)
Advocacy Kit for Promoting Multilingual Education
© Gould League
n
Many, especially those in remote areas, have no access to schools at all, or have
schools but no teachers.
n
If there are schools and teachers, the teachers are unlikely to share the students’
social and cultural background or to speak the students’ language.
n
Teaching materials and textbooks (if there are any) are in a language the students do
not understand. Lessons ignore the students’ own knowledge and experience, and
give the impression that only the dominant language and culture are important.
n
Because the students do not understand the school language – and therefore the
lesson content – many of them do not do well in their classes. They have to repeat
grades and eventually become discouraged and leave school altogether.
Q2: What is Mother Tongue-based Multilingual Education (MLE) and how does it help
students do better in school?
Mother Tongue-based MLE programmes begin in students’ first or home language, help
them build fluency and confidence in the official school language (and additional languages,
as required) and encourage them to use both their own and the official language to achieve
a quality education.
Problem in mainstream schools: Students are expected to communicate in the school
language when they begin their education, even though they may not have heard it
before.
n
MLE solution: Students begin school using their home or first language. If students
from several language groups are in the same class, a local lingua franca may be
used.
Problem in mainstream schools: Students must learn increasingly abstract concepts using
the new language before they have built the vocabulary in that language to understand or
apply the concepts.
n
MLE solution: In the early grades, teachers use the student’s known language to
teach academic concepts. At the same time, the students begin learning the new
language, first orally and then for reading and writing.
As the children gain fluency in the new language, teachers begin to use that
language for instruction. But they continue to use the home language to introduce
new ideas, to review what the students have learned and to clarify things they did
not understand.
Once students understand a concept in their first language, they do not need to
re-learn it in the second language. They only need to learn the second language
vocabulary to communicate what they know in that language. This is why many
MLE teachers say, “This is the first time that my students have understood these
concepts!”
Carefully planned Mother Tongue-based MLE programmes should produce students who
are:
n
Multilingual – they use two or more languages in their everyday interactions and
for learning in school.
n
Multiliterate – they read and write competently in both or all of their languages.
n
Multicultural – they are comfortable living and working with people from outside
their community while maintaining their love and respect for their home culture
and community.
Q3: What is the process by which children go from their first language to the official
language in school?
When teachers are professionally trained and have access to quality materials in both the
students’ home language and the official language, the process and pace of language
education can be flexible. However, experiences in Asia and the Pacific have shown that
when teachers lack professional training, when there are few teaching and learning materials
and when the students have little exposure to the new language outside of school, it is best
to proceed more slowly, so that neither students nor teachers are overwhelmed.
Booklet for Programme Implementers
Effective MLE programmes help to overcome several specific educational problems
experienced by minority students in mainstream, dominant language schools:
One of the underlying principles of mother tongue-based multilingual education is that
students learn best when they use what they already know (their knowledge and experience,
their own language) to learn what is new (new facts, new concepts, new languages). So MLE
programmes focus on helping students build a good educational foundation in their first
language and a good bridge to the new language.
Beginning in the first language. In good MLE programmes, students begin to construct
a strong educational foundation when they begin to learn in their first language – the
language they speak and understand best. Lessons introduce new topics by relating them
to the students’ own knowledge and experience. Research has found that this foundation
in the first language is the key to helping students learn additional languages successfully:
The level of development of children’s mother tongue is a strong predictor of their
second language development… Children…with a solid foundation in their mother
tongue develop stronger literacy abilities in the school language.2
Advocacy Kit for Promoting Multilingual Education
© SIL International
2 Cummins, J. 2000. Bilingual Children’s Mother Tongue: Why is It Important for Education?
http://www.iteachilearn.com/cummins/mother.htm (Accessed on 17 November 2006)
When children continue to develop their abilities in two or more languages throughout
their primary school years, they gain a deeper understanding of language and how
to use it effectively. They have more practice in processing language, especially when
they develop literacy in both, and they are able to compare and contrast the ways in
which their two languages organize reality.3
Booklet for Programme Implementers
Bridging to the new language. Having established an educational foundation in their home
language, students begin learning the new language, first orally and then in written form.
However, they do not stop using their first language as soon as they have achieved basic
competency in the new language. Rather, they continue using both languages for learning,
at least through primary school:
p
We can identify four general phases for language education, beginning in the students’
first language and then adding the new language – first orally and then in written form.
(Additional phases may be needed for each new language that is added.) Each phase builds
on those preceding it, and at each phase teachers reinforce what the children have already
learned.
(Add additional language, if appropriate)
Continue developing oral and written L1 and L2
Introduce reading and writing in L2
Continue developing oral and written L1 and oral L2
Introduce oral L2
Continue developing oral and written L1
Introduce reading and writing in L1
Continue developing oral L1
Build fluency and confidence in oral L14 (for children who are just beginning school)
Phases of language education at primary level5
3 Cummins, J. 2000.
4 L1 = the children’s first/home/heritage language, the language they know best
L2 = the children’s second language/official/national language
5 Adapted from S. Malone, 2005b. Planning Community-based Education Programmes in Minority Language
Communities. Resource manual for mother tongue speakers of minority languages engaged in planning
and implementing education programmes in their own communities.
Q4. What is involved in implementing strong and effective Mother Tongue-based MLE
programmes?
A study of MLE programmes around the world reveals that the most successful and sustained
programmes share several characteristics:
1. Minority language communities share responsibility for planning, implementing,
evaluating and maintaining their programmes.
2. Government agencies, NGOs, universities and other interested agencies work
together in supporting the programmes.
3. Adequate funding is provided for all programme components, especially training,
materials development, and provision of wages for local teachers.
4. Students, their parents and their communities recognize the benefits of the
programme in helping them achieve their educational goals.
Advocacy Kit for Promoting Multilingual Education
© SIL International
Gathering information
for planning
Establishing a supportive
political environment
Building cooperation
among supporting agencies;
securing funding
Evaluating
and documenting
the programme
Recruiting
and training
MLE staff
Raising awareness
and mobilizing partners
Categories of activities:
Implementing a strong
MLE programme
Developing
graded reading
materials
Developing
orthographies
(if necessary)
Booklet for Programme Implementers
The process of implementing and sustaining these programmes usually consists of the
following general categories of activities:
Developing
MLE-specific
curriculum
Programme implementers may not be responsible for all of the activities listed in the
diagram above. For example, they may not be involved in establishing supportive policies
or securing funds for the MLE programme. They will, however, be involved in most of the
other activities. The following sections provide a brief and very general overview of these
activities.
Gathering information for planning. Successful programmes begin with good planning,
and good planning requires good information. Answers to the questions below will help to
provide some of the information needed for planning effective MLE programmes:
n
How do people in the language communities describe their current educational
situation? (What are their goals for their children’s education? What problems or
needs do they identify?)
n
Which minority language communities are ready to begin an MLE programme?
(Are they committed to developing their language for educational purposes? Have they
identified potential teachers and writers? Do they have a place to hold classes? Are they
prepared to take their share of responsibility for implementing and maintaining their
programme?)
n
What is the status of the local language? (Does it have a written form that is acceptable
to mother tongue speakers, to educators and to appropriate government officials?)
n
What resources can be mobilized? (Where will training take place? Who will be the
trainers? Who will supervise the classes? Who will help to develop the MLE curriculum?
Who will create reading materials in the students’ languages?)
n
What factors might hinder implementation and sustainability of the programme,
and what are possible solutions to problems? (Will transportation be a problem for
training, supervision and distribution of materials? If so, are there local training facilities
that can be used? Can “master teachers” be promoted to supervise other teachers in
their vicinity?)
n What is the current language and education situation according to available reports
and other documents? (What percentages of children from each language community
enter the school system? What percentage of those who enter finish Grade 6? Grade
10? What percentages of adults are able to use print literature? In which language or
languages?)
Advocacy Kit for Promoting Multilingual Education
© BUNYAD
Preliminary Research for a Non-formal
Adult Education Programme6
The Bureau of Non-formal Education of the Philippines has initiated First Language
First bilingual education programmes in several language communities, but
because of a lack of resources such as learning materials and trained facilitators,
not all the programmes have been implemented as planned. One programme
that has been sustained is the “Indigenous People’s Education Programme” of
the Magbikin language community in Morong, Bataan. This action research
project consisted of two phases. The first phase focused on identifying learning
needs and developing local curriculum and learning materials. The second phase
involved producing the learning materials, building capacity and organizing
learning group sessions. A report of this programme identified several research
strategies that programme facilitators used to learn from the community about
their goals and needs:
4Project orientation sessions that focused on the purposes and processes for
collecting information through action research
4Community dialogue sessions to establish rapport with leaders and other
members of the community
4Group discussions on particular topics to generate information about the
community
4Home visitations and interviews with key members of the community
to validate and supplement the information gathered through group
discussion
Needs and problems that were identified through these sessions were categorized
and prioritized according to input from community members. Programme
facilitators used these categories to develop a community-centered curriculum
for the non-formal education programme.
6 Valles, M. C. 2005. Action Research on the Development of an Indigenous Peoples Education Programme
for the Magbikin Tribe in Morong, Bataan, Philippines. UNESCO, First Language First: Community-based
Literacy Programmes for Minority Language Contexts in Asia. Bangkok, UNESCO, pp. 181-195.
Booklet for Programme Implementers
Example from the Philippines:
Raising awareness and mobilizing partners. People need information about the purpose
and benefits of multilingual education if they are to support MLE programmes. Awarenessraising and mobilization activities should provide information that will encourage people to
work together in planning, implementing and supporting their programme. Activities can
take place at the community level, at the district or province level, or nationally.
Awareness-raising and mobilization in communities. People from minority language
communities who have experienced many years of discrimination and neglect may feel that
their language and culture are of no value. They often believe that the best thing they can
do for their children is to get them into the “language of power” as quickly as possible. They
are afraid that if they use their own language in the classroom, their children will have fewer
chances to learn the official or dominant language.
To overcome these perceptions, awareness-raising should focus on both the educational
and the cultural value of multilingual education. Activities can include talking about MLE
with parents and other community members, showing them reading materials in their
own language, performing dramas or skits (for example, a skit to show a class with the
teacher using a language the students don’t understand, followed by another skit with
the teacher using the students’ home language) and then talking about the message that
was communicated, visiting an MLE class in another community, or showing a video of an
interactive MLE classroom.
10
Example from the Philippines:
Advocacy Kit for Promoting Multilingual Education
Awareness-raising at the Community Level
for a Primary School Programme7
Educators in the Philippines visited a local community to talk with parents about
the MLE programme that had been established in their school. Some parents
still did not fully understand the purpose of the programme and were worried
that their children would not be able to learn Filipino and English (the official
languages of the country) well. The visitors explained that the MLE programme
was meant to help their children to build a strong educational foundation in
their home language and a good bridge to the official languages. The visitors
carefully answered the parents’ questions and gave examples from other parts
of the country. At the end of the meeting, the parents told their visitors, “Okay.
We’ll keep the programme. But you must go back and tell the people in Manila
to be sure that they help our children to build a strong foundation and a good
bridge!”
7 From author’s personal communication. 2001. Philippines.
Booklet for Programme Implementers
Awareness-raising and mobilization at district and provincial levels. If local, district and
provincial officials in the education system do not understand the reason for using nonofficial languages in primary school, they will have difficulty supporting MLE. Education
officials need information about the rationale, purpose and benefits of MLE, and assurance
that the MLE programme will be worth the effort it will takes to implement and support it.
11
© SIL International
Mobilization activities can include:
n
Group discussions (with members of the minority communities) about educational
problems faced by students who do not speak the official school language;
n
Visits to MLE classes, or viewing videos of classes, followed by discussions of what
they observed;
n
Participation in preliminary research, training workshops, and/or curriculum
development; and
n
Encouragement to think innovatively about ways to develop successful
programmes.
Example from Papua New Guinea:
Awareness-raising for Pre-primary Education
at the Provincial Level8
Advocacy Kit for Promoting Multilingual Education
12
When members of the Kaugel language community initiated a pre-primary
mother tongue education programme for their children, one of first things they
did was to establish their own language and education association and register
it officially with the government as an NGO. The coordinator of the programme,
a former schoolteacher, understood that if the local programme were to be
sustained, it would have to be accepted and approved by officials from the
provincial education office. The coordinator visited the education office in
the provincial capital, taking samples of graded Kaugel language reading
materials that had been produced for the programme. He invited the provincial
education officer to visit training workshops and classes, and he sent regular
reports about the programme to the education office. In addition, the Kaugel
coordinator offered to assist provincial education officers in training people from
other language groups who wanted to initiate pre-primary programmes. The
relationship between the Kaugel programme and the provincial education office
was mutually beneficial: Kaugel trainers assisted with provincial teacher training
workshops, and the provincial education office provided classroom supplies (and
credibility) to the Kaugel programme. The Kaugel programme, initiated in 1984,
has been successfully sustained for over twenty years and Kaugel-First education
is now part of Papua New Guinea’s formal education system.
Awareness-raising and mobilization at the national level. Arranging visits to successful
programmes within or outside the country is an excellent awareness-raising activity for
policy makers and other national officials. Another strategy is to host a national or regional
symposium or workshop that focuses on multilingual education.
8 From author’s personal experience working with the Kaugel language programmme from 1982 to 1987.
Awareness Raising for Multilingual Education
at the National Level9
In 2005, the “Workshop on Multilingual Education, with Special Focus on Tribal
Education” was held in Mysore, India. The three-day workshop was sponsored by
UNESCO, UNICEF, the National Council on Education, Training and Research and
the Central Institute of Indian Languages.
Booklet for Programme Implementers
Example from India:
The purpose of the workshop was to bring together members of the minority
language communities, practitioners, scholars and policy makers to discuss
issues relating to the educational needs of minority language speakers. Workshop
planners hoped that participants would learn from each other while they talked
about planning education programmes that were appropriate to the educational
needs of the language communities and that affirmed the students’ languages
and cultures.
Since policies are made at the state level in India, the workshop was intended
particularly to raise awareness among government officials at that level. Speakers
of the minority languages, members of NGOs that support MLE programmes
and a number of national level scholars and government officials were also
invited. The aim was to have a balance between grassroots workers, scholars and
policymakers.
At the end of the workshop, participants identified four points that should be
considered essential components of Mother Tongue-based MLE programmes in
India:
4Community involvement from the beginning (including decisions about
orthography)
4A curriculum that is rooted in the local context
4Mother tongue speakers from the children’s own communities as teachers
4A variety of reading materials in the children’s home languages
9 From author’s experience.
13
Developing orthographies (writing systems) for as yet unwritten languages. Developing
an orthography or system for writing a particular language involves selecting and testing
the symbols/letters and spelling rules (capital letters, punctuation, hyphens, etc.) that will
represent the important parts of the language.
Orthography development has two goals: 1) speakers of the language will approve the
orthography and use it consistently, and 2) the orthography will be acceptable to the
relevant government agencies. The process of orthography development usually includes
the following activities:
1. Language surveys: Collecting information about the language – number of speakers,
geographic area in which the language is spoken, number of dialects/varieties and
the degree of similarity or difference between them, people’s attitudes toward their
own language(s), and domains (e.g. social, economic, political, religious, cultural) in
which the language is used.
2. Language analysis: Identifying the parts of the language that need to be represented
by letters or symbols.
Advocacy Kit for Promoting Multilingual Education
14
© SIL International
4. Testing: Testing the trial orthography both formally (through observing people’s
use of the written language and noting problems) and informally (by encouraging
as many people as possible to use it as much as possible and by asking for their
feedback).
5. Revision: Identifying alternative letters or symbols that can be used if problems are
discovered with the original (or revised) selections.
Booklet for Programme Implementers
3. Trial orthography: Conducting an orthography workshop in which mother tongue
speakers of the language, with help from linguists as necessary, identify the letters
or symbols that will represent their language and produce a tentative or trial
orthography.
6. Approval: Conducting a second orthography workshop to present the revised
orthography to mother tongue speakers for their approval. Requesting approval
from relevant government agencies, as well.
Ideally, developing a writing system for a previously unwritten language begins by analyzing
the language to identify the parts that need to be represented by letters or symbols.
Sometimes, however, community members want to begin an MLE programme quickly
and do not feel they have time for extensive language analysis. Working together, ideally
with support from linguists, mother tongue speakers can develop an initial orthography
for their language. It is important to note, however, that the more quickly the orthography
is developed, the more carefully it must be tested. Also, it is best not to produce expensive
reading materials until the mother tongue speakers and relevant government agencies
have approved the orthography.
15
Example from Papua New Guinea:
Developing Orthographies for Many Languages10
Alphabet Design Workshops11 enable members of a minority language
community to begin developing orthography (alphabet) for their language.
The workshop plan is based on recognition that mother tongue speakers of a
language have trustworthy perceptions about the way their language should be
spoken and written.
An Alphabet Design Workshop for a language group usually lasts about ten
days. At the workshop, mother tongue speakers, encouraged and supported by
alphabet design specialists, write and edit stories, explore the sound patterns of
their language and produce a Trial Spelling Guide that includes their new alphabet,
spelling rules, and a short dictionary. Stories written during the workshop are
collected in a separate book to be used later to test the new alphabet in the
language community. Through these activities, participants develop a greater
understanding of the structure of their language and the issues that should be
considered in developing the trial alphabet.
16
Alphabet Design Workshops follow a basic pattern:
1. Participants write and then read stories in their language;
2. They identify problems with the alphabet as they go through the writing and
reading process;
3. They discuss options for solving these problems;
4. They make decisions about which letters or symbols to use; and
Advocacy Kit for Promoting Multilingual Education
5. They test their decisions.
These five steps are repeated as often as necessary in the decision-making
process. This encourages participants to continue assessing their new alphabet
and make necessary changes. The process also encourages them to understand
that their writing system is not something that can never be changed but that it
is a tool to be used and modified as needed by the language community.
10 Easton, C. 2003 (7-9 November). Alphabet Design Workshops in Papua New Guinea: A Community-based
Approach to Orthography Development. International Conference on Language Development, Language
Revitalization and Multilingual Education. Bangkok, http://www.sil.org/asia/ldc/parallel_papers/catherine_
easton.pdf (Accessed on 17 November 2006)
11 Alphabet Design Workshops were developed by SIL International in Papua New Guinea. See Easton, C.
2003. http://www.sil.org/asia/ldc/parallel_papers/catherine_easton.pdf (Accessed on 17 November 2006)
Booklet for Programme Implementers
In Papua New Guinea, a country with five million people who speak over 800
languages, Alphabet Design Workshops have served a great need. When the
National Department of Education embarked on an MLE programme in the mid1990s, many language communities needed to develop writing systems so that
they could enter the programme. Between 1998 and 2002, 47 Alphabet Design
Workshops were held in which people from over 100 languages produced trial
alphabets.
Developing an MLE-specific curriculum. Students in strong Mother Tongue-based MLE
programmes (i.e. programmes that use the mother tongue as one of the languages of
instruction for at least 6 years) should achieve three general learning outcomes:
1. They will understand and be able to apply grade-level academic concepts in the
core subjects;
2. They will have begun to develop competence and confidence in using the official
school language; and
3. They will have developed competence and confidence in using their own language,
both orally and in written form, for a variety of purposes including using it for
learning.
© Backward Society Education - Nepal (BASE)
17
The MLE curriculum should cover the same content as the mainstream curriculum so that
students can move easily into mainstream classes at the end of primary school or once first
language support is withdrawn. (Please note that the first language should not be withdrawn
too soon.) The MLE curriculum should also include a specific “language development” focus
(see points 2 and 3, above). Teachers will need to learn appropriate strategies for helping
students build competence and confidence in hearing, speaking, reading and writing both
their home language and the official language.
The following are some step-by-step suggestions for developing an MLE-specific
curriculum:
1) First, list the learning competencies for each subject in the mainstream curriculum.
Remember that these competencies were written for students who speak the
official school language as their mother tongue.
2) Go through the competencies for each subject and identify the essential concepts that
students are to learn. Note that essential concepts in math, science, social studies,
health and other content areas are not “language-specific”, so the concepts can be
learned in any language. Develop MLE competencies that focus on these essential
concepts and are appropriate for students from non-mainstream languages and
cultures.
Advocacy Kit for Promoting Multilingual Education
18
3) Next, develop MLE-specific language education competencies for the children’s home
language and for the official language (see the phases of language development
above). Ensure that these competencies focus on using both languages for
everyday communication and for learning academic subjects.
n
Competencies that relate to using the language for communication have a dual
focus: Students will learn to use the new language meaningfully and they will
learn to speak, read and write it correctly;
n
Competencies that relate to using the language for learning academic subjects
focus on building academic vocabulary in the new language. (Some examples
are math terms for multiplication or division, and science terms for condensation
or photosynthesis). These tend to be abstract terms, which are more difficult
for language learners to learn, remember and use, so they will require special
teaching strategies.
4) Provide suggestions for learning activities that MLE teachers can use to help learners
achieve each of the competencies. You may need to make use of internet or other
resources for teaching language across the curriculum.
5) Develop Teachers’ Guides that include a template in which teachers list ideas for
including local content in each lesson. (An example for a health lesson would be to
write the title of a health-related story written in the home language about local
people.) Even when the students are able to use mainstream textbooks, teachers
should continue to add local content to the lessons, to ensure that students continue
building knowledge in both their languages, based on their own experiences.
Developing MLE-specific Instructional Materials for
a Language Revitalization Programme in Primary School12
Members of the Chong language community in Chantaburi Province, Thailand,
were concerned that their children were losing their language and culture. They
wanted to include a Chong language time in the regular Thai-language primary
school programme. Community leaders asked for and received permission from
education officials to use the “Local Studies” class (part of the regular school
curriculum) to teach their language and culture.
Booklet for Programme Implementers
Example from Thailand:
Members of the community took part in developing a curriculum for the Chong
language and culture class.13 They developed the language content for oral
language lessons, prepared all the instructional and reading materials, and
volunteered as teachers for the class.
The language curriculum for the Chong programme had two purposes: to help
Chong children learn to understand, speak, read and write their language in an
enjoyable atmosphere, and to help the children appreciate their language and
be proud of their part in revitalizing their cultural heritage.
One group of older Chong speakers provided the sequence of key words for the
mother tongue teachers to use in Chong language learning activities. Another
group of adults wrote stories based on Chong culture and oral history. These
were made into a series of Chong reading books. A third group of parents wrote
stories for 27 “big books” – large books that a teacher could read with the whole
class, a process called “shared reading”. Chong high school students contributed
by preparing illustrations for the big books. Adult Chong speakers also provided
traditional songs for the children to learn in class. A transfer primer was developed
to help the Chong children, who already knew how to read and write Thai, to
bridge back to reading and writing in their heritage language.
This experience highlights the fact that members of minority language groups are
the most important resource people for developing curriculum for a multilingual
education programme.
12 Malone, D. and Suwilai P. 2005. Language Development and Language Revitalization in Asia. Mon Khmer
Studies, Vol. 35, pp. 101-120.
13 This programme did not include use of the children’s first language for other subjects.
19
Developing graded reading materials. Reading is like riding a bicycle – we only need to
learn once. Students who have learned to read in their own language can transfer what
they have learned to reading in the new language, even if the new language has a different
script. The most important factor in helping students become fluent readers in their first
language and in the official language is a variety of reading materials in both languages.
Experiences in many MLE programmes have shown that students do not require expensive
reading materials. Neatly printed booklets with firm paper covers and black-and-white
line drawings are usually acceptable, especially in the early stages of the programme. The
most important characteristics of the materials are that: 1) the content is interesting, 2) the
language is clear and understandable, and 3) the illustrations are related to the text and
appropriate to the local context.
Advocacy Kit for Promoting Multilingual Education
20
© SIL International
In addition to the benefits these materials provide for local MLE programmes, the outcome
of this process – development of literature in many of the nation’s languages that records
the histories and the “stories” of its people – adds to the richness of the national heritage.
Developing Graded Reading Materials14
The majority of the 1.6 million people who speak the Kam15 language live in the
mountainous rural areas of Guizhou Province in China. In 2000, Kam community
leaders embarked on a bilingual education pilot project in their language area.
In the project, teachers use the Kam language in the classroom during the two
years of pre-school (with children ages 5-6) before introducing oral Chinese in
Grade 1.
Booklet for Programme Implementers
Example from China:
One of the “rules” of reading education is that, in order to learn to read well,
children need to read often and to read a variety of interesting texts. This presents
quite a challenge in minority language communities that have little or no written
literature. Kam programme leaders realized that they needed to begin quickly
and work hard to produce the reading materials that would be needed for their
project.
Production of reading materials began with a writers’ workshop. Guided by a Kam
cultural calendar and a list of cultural themes, mother tongue writers eventually
produced a total of 160 easy-to-read stories in Kam for the first year of preschool
and another 160 stories for the second year.
Kam educators recognized that the children would require more stories and texts
as they progressed from Grade 1 through Grade 6. These books would help the
children build fluency in their own Kam language as they were learning to read
and write Chinese. So the Kam writers produced about 40 stories for each year of
primary school. The stories are about topics that are relevant and interesting to
Kam children. In addition to those stories, Kam speakers produced another 120
“extra-curricular” stories for children to practice independent reading.
This emphasis on providing Kam students with ample reading materials has
helped the children build high competence in their own language and has given
them the confidence to transfer what they know to reading and writing Chinese.
Preliminary observations indicate that Kam children in the early grades of primary
school are reading and writing Chinese better than they ever did before.
14 Geary, N. and Pan, Y. 2001 (19-21 September) Eight Hundred Stories for Dong Development: A Bilingual
Education Pilot Project in Guizhou Province, China. 6th Oxford International Conference on Education and
Development. Oxford, United Kingdom.
15 “Kam” (pronounced like “gum” in English) is the name the people call themselves. Other people in China
often refer to this group as the “Dong.”
21
Recruiting and training MLE staff. The most successful MLE programmes are those that
have recruited motivated and respected individuals and helped them develop knowledge,
skills, creativity and commitment for their assigned roles. Staff will be needed for both of
the following categories of activities:
For multiple languages
For a single language
4Plan & coordinate the programme
4Develop the curriculum
4Train the staff (including training trainers)
4Oversee the development & production of
4Plan & coordinate the programme
4Teach classes
4Create the reading materials
4Illustrate the materials
4Edit the materials
4Support the programme
materials (in multiple languages)
4Supervise classes
(create MLE support committee)
Advocacy Kit for Promoting Multilingual Education
22
One of the challenges faced by MLE programmes is that, because of nonexistent or ineffective
education in the past, there may be few mother tongue speakers from the minority
language communities with professional teaching qualifications. Over time, as effective
MLE programmes are established and sustained, this situation should change. Until then,
one solution is to identify individuals who are fluent in the local language, who understand
and appreciate the local culture and who are respected by others in the community, and
equip them to teach. Experiences in countries around the world have shown­ that nonprofessional teachers who have easy-to-use instructional materials, good quality pre-service
and in-service training and regular, supportive supervision can function very well in the
classroom. If local teachers are not proficient in the official language, a language-learning
component needs to be included in teacher training courses. One effective practice is to
use “team teaching”: an assistant teacher from the local community works with a regular
primary school teacher from outside the community, and each is responsible for the classes
in his/her own language.
Recruiting and Training Teachers16
The purpose of the Highland Children’s Education Project in Ratanakiri Province
in Cambodia is to establish village schools in minority language communities
that have very limited or no access to education or other basic government
services. The task of providing education is especially challenging in the remote
highland areas because of a chronic and systemic teacher shortage, irregular
school attendance, and lack of culturally appropriate teaching and learning
materials.
Booklet for Programme Implementers
Example from Cambodia:
Village school boards are responsible for management of their school and for
selecting teachers. Teachers speak the local language as well as Khmer, the
national language. Since teachers are from the children’s home community, they
also share the children’s background knowledge and experiences. The challenge,
as noted above, is that because of limited access to education in the past, none
of the people selected to teach in the village schools have completed a primary
school education.
The teacher-training course for the Highland Children’s Education Project is
designed to prepare these individuals to be teachers in remote bilingual and bicultural settings. The course aims to provide culturally appropriate teacher training
to participants from indigenous minority groups by doing the following:
4Enabling participants to develop or extend their own academic knowledge;
4Equipping them with knowledge and skills in teaching methodologies;
4Preparing them to become reflective classroom practitioners who strive for
ongoing self-improvement;
4Equipping them to contribute to community development through
participatory forums and processes of schooling and education.
4Contributing to the enhancement of their social standing in their communities;
and
4Supporting the development of indigenous perspectives on education.
Teacher training takes place in “learning cycles” in which trainees participate in
cycles of intensive input followed by immediate practice and then evaluation.
This is an “action research” approach which is recognized worldwide, particularly
by educators, as a strategy for promoting effective learning and developing
sound practices.
16 Middleborg, J. 2005. Highland Children’s Education Project: Good Lessons Learned in Basic Education. Bangkok,
UNESCO.
23
Documenting and evaluating the programme. In effective and sustained MLE programmes,
evaluation and documentation begin at the planning phase and continue through the life of
the programme. Following are components of the programme that should be documented
and evaluated regularly and examples of questions that can help guide the documentation
and evaluation process:
Curriculum/teaching method. Are learning outcomes clear? Do the teachers feel
comfortable with the teaching methods? Does lesson content relate positively to the
local culture? How can the curriculum be improved?
Personnel. Are teachers following the instructional plan? Do supervisors and trainers
provide encouragement and support to local staff? What can be done to help staff at
all levels build competence, confidence and creativity in carrying out their tasks?
Training. Do teachers who have completed teacher training workshops demonstrate
that they understand the teaching method? Do writers who have completed writers’
workshops demonstrate the ability to create, illustrate, edit and test their mother
tongue materials? How can training be improved?
24
Materials. Are the instructional materials for non-professional teachers clear and easy
to use? Do mother tongue speakers consider the reading materials appropriate? Can
the students read them? Do they enjoy them? Is the system for producing reading
materials as efficient as it needs to be? Is the distribution system effective and reliable?
What parts can be improved?
Student progress. Do the students demonstrate that they are achieving the learning
outcomes established for their grade level? Are they progressing successfully from
one grade to the next? Are the students and their parents satisfied with their progress?
What can be done to help students be more successful?
Advocacy Kit for Promoting Multilingual Education
Programme growth and quality. Is the programme growing as planned? Are the people
responsible for the programme, including members of the language communities,
satisfied with the way it is growing? What can be done to ensure that the quality of
the programme is maintained as it expands?
Cost effectiveness. Are stakeholders satisfied that the cost of the programme is
worthwhile in terms of the benefits that have been achieved? If the programme is
relatively new, are there ways to be more cost effective without sacrificing programme
quality?
Long-term impact of the programme. What intended and unintended changes have
come about as a result of the programme – for the minority language communities
and for the wider society?
Developing sound evaluation instruments, documenting results and then using the
information to make necessary changes helps to ensure that the programme will meet the
expectations of those responsible for it and those who fund it. Most importantly, it helps
to ensure that the programme meets the goals and expectations of the minority language
communities. In addition, documentation of the strengths and weaknesses of existing
programmes provides valuable information for those planning new programmes.
The Longitudinal Research Project
Longitudinal research studies of MLE programmes in Europe and North America
have found that the benefits of multilingual education become most apparent
after an extended period of time. Accurate evaluations of MLE programmes,
therefore, need to follow minority language students all the way through their
MLE programme and beyond, to see how they do in the mainstream education
system relative to students who have not had mother tongue schooling.
Booklet for Programme Implementers
Example of Documentation and Evaluation of MLE Programmes:
Until recently, very little research of this kind has taken place in Asia, the Pacific
or Africa. To provide policy-makers and educators from these parts of the world
with information about multilingual education, a Longitudinal Research Project
(LRP) was initiated in 2003 by SIL International to collect and analyze data from
MLE programmes over a ten-year period.
The LRP will track participants in experimental (MLE) and “control” (no home
language) classes through primary school and into secondary school. Particular
attention will be given to student attendance and retention data, results of
student performance measures from local, district, provincial and/or national
examinations, and evaluations of instructional materials and methods, teacher
attitudes, training and supervision.
Cooperation among supporting agencies. Governments alone cannot plan and implement
strong, sustained MLE programmes without the participation of the minority language
communities. The communities, even with help from NGOs, cannot sustain their programmes
without governmental support at all levels. Strong and sustainable MLE programmes
require cooperation and support from multiple agencies – government, universities,
research institutes, NGOs and others – working alongside the communities in planning,
implementing, and evaluating their programmes. Building cooperation among supporting
agencies makes the best use of resources, including the experience and expertise of each
partner.
25
Q5: Can we afford to implement MLE programmes in multiple languages? Is it worth the
effort?
A better question might be, “Can we afford not to provide appropriate education for speakers
of minority languages?”
We have a few hundred years of evidence that submersion in the L2 is “highly inefficient,”
if not downright wasteful and discriminatory, since such school systems are characterized
by low intake, high repetition and dropout, and low completion rates. The costs to the
individual, who sacrifices productive agricultural and family work time to go to school,
only to experience failure and rejection, are high. The overall costs to the society, then,
are clearly astronomical, and must be seen as at least partially to blame for the lack of
inclusive, participatory governing in post-colonial countries.17
26
In addition to educational and long-term financial benefits, MLE programmes serve a wider
purpose. Government support for strong MLE programmes demonstrates to all citizens
that minority languages, and those who speak the languages, are valued. MLE programmes
that help learners to build a good “bridge” between their home language and the official
languages help to build national unity without forcing people to sacrifice their unique
linguistic and cultural heritage. Experiences around the world have demonstrated that
denying or suppressing people’s linguistic and cultural heritage has been a cause for division
and strife. MLE supports unity through affirming diversity rather than instead of diversity.
Perhaps the best people to answer the question “Is it worth it?” are the members of the
ethnic minority communities themselves. To end this booklet with a community voice,
here is the viewpoint of one parent from Papua New Guinea:
Advocacy Kit for Promoting Multilingual Education
When children go to school, they go to an alien place. They leave their parents, they leave
their gardens, they leave everything that is their way of life. They sit in a classroom and
they learn things that have nothing to do with their own place. Later, because they have
learned only other things, they reject their own.
They don’t want to dig kaukau [sweet potatoes], they say it’s dirty; they don’t want to help
their mother fetch water. They look down on those things. There are big changes in the
children now. They don’t obey their parents; they become rascals. And this is because they
have gone to school and left the things that are ours.
17 Benson, C. 2001 (20 April). Real and Potential Benefits of Bilingual Programmes in Developing Countries. Third
International Symposium on Bilingualism. Bristol, England.
When he writes these things they become important to him. He is not only reading and
writing about things outside, but learning through reading and writing to be proud of our
way of life. When he is big, he will not reject us. It is important to teach our children to read
and write, but it is more important to teach them to be proud of themselves, and of us.18
Booklet for Programme Implementers
Now my child is in a Tok Ples school. He is not leaving his place. He is learning in school
about his customs, his way of life. Now he can write anything he wants to in Tok Ples. Not
just the things he can see, but things he thinks about, too. And he writes about his place.
He writes about helping his mother carry water, about digging kaukau, about going to the
garden.
27
© SIL International
18 Delpit, L. D. and Kemelfield, G. 1985. An Evaluation of the Viles Tok Ples Skul Scheme in the North Solomons
Province. ERU Report No. 51. Waigani, Papua New Guinea, University of Papua New Guinea. pp. 29-30.
References
Benson, C. 2001 (20 April). Real and Potential Benefits of Bilingual Programmes in Developing
Countries. Third International Symposium on Bilingualism. Bristol, England.
Benson, C. 2005 Mother Tongue-based Teaching and Education for Girls. Bangkok, UNESCO.
http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0014/001420/142079e.pdf (Accessed on 17
November 2006)
Cummins, J. 2000. Bilingual Children’s Mother Tongue: Why is it Important for Education?
http://www.iteachilearn.com/cummins/mother.htm (Accessed on 17 November 2006)
Delpit, L. D. and Kemelfield, G. 1985. An Evaluation of the Viles Tok Ples Skul Scheme in the
North Solomons Province. ERU Report No. 51. Waigani, Papua New Guinea, University of
Papua New Guinea.
28
Easton, C. 2003 (7-9 November). Alphabet Design Workshops in Papua New Guinea: A
Community-based Approach to Orthography Development. International Conference
on Language Development, Language Revitalization and Multilingual Education.
Bangkok, http://www.sil.org/asia/ldc/parallel_papers/catherine_easton.pdf (Accessed
on 17 November 2006)
Geary, N. and Pan, Y. 2001 (19-21 September) Eight Hundred Stories for Dong Development:
A Bilingual Education Pilot Project in Guizhou Province, China. 6th Oxford International
Conference on Education and Development. Oxford, United Kingdom.
Advocacy Kit for Promoting Multilingual Education
Malone, D. and Suwilai P. 2005. Language Development and Language Revitalization in Asia.
Mon Khmer Studies, Vol. 35, pp. 101-120.
Malone, S. 2005. Planning community-based education programs in minority language
communities. Resource manual for mother tongue speakers of minority languages
engaged in planning and implementing education programs in their own communities.
Middleborg, J. 2005. Highlands Children’s Education Project: Good Lessons Learned in Basic
Education. Bangkok, UNESCO.
Valles, M. C. 2005. Action Research on the Development of an Indigenous Peoples Education
Programme for the Magbikin Tribe in Morong, Bataan, Philippines. UNESCO, First
Language First: Community-based Literacy Programmes for Minority Language Contexts
in Asia. Bangkok, UNESCO, pp. 181-195.
World Bank. 2005. Education Notes. In their own Language: Education for All. Washington
D.C., World Bank. http://siteresources.worldbank.org/EDUCATION/Resources/EducationNotes/EdNotes_Lang_of_Instruct.pdf (Accessed on 17 November 2006)
Dialect
Manner of speaking a language that varies according to region or
social group (see also variety)
Dominant language Language spoken by the dominant social group, or language that
is seen as the main language of a country
Booklet for Programme Implementers
Glossary of Terms – Language
4May have official or national language status even if it is not
spoken by a numerical majority of the national population
Heritage language Language of a person’s ancestors or ethnolinguistic group
Home language
Language spoken in the home (see also L1, mother tongue)
4Some people have more than one home language
L1
First language, native language (see also mother tongue, home
language, local language)
4 Refers to language or languages learned from birth
L2
Second language, non-native language, language of wider
communication, or foreign language
4Often refers to contexts where the language is spoken in the
4For ethnolinguistic minorities, the L2 is usually an official and/or
Language of instruction
Language used for teaching and learning the school curriculum,
also called medium of instruction
Local language
Language spoken in the immediate community
4May refer to languages that are not yet fully developed in
Majority language
Language spoken by the majority of people in a region/country
Minority language
Language spoken by a social and/or ethnic minority group
4Sometimes used to refer to the language of a numerically large
wider society outside the home; in bilingual education, refers
to second (official, foreign) language introduced after the L1
national language
written form
group that is not dominant
29
Mother tongue (MT) First language, native language (see also L1, home language, local
language)
Advocacy Kit for Promoting Multilingual Education
30
4Language that a person: (a) has learnt first; (b) identifies with or
National language
Language considered to be an important, widely-spoken language
in a country; sometimes also an official language
Example: India recognizes two official and 22 national languages;
Bahasa Indonesia is both national and official language of Indonesia
Official language
Language adopted by a country for public administrative and
institutional use, often including schools
Example: India has Hindi and English as official languages of the
country and a number of different official state languages
Variety
Manner of speaking a language that varies according to region or
social group (see also dialect)
is identified as a native speaker of by others; (c) knows best; or
(d) uses most
Alienation
Being disconnected from one’s own language and culture
4Minority language speakers in dominant language education
Awareness raising
Providing information that can help people achieve the goals and
needs that they have identified for themselves
Bilingual Individual: Ability to speak/understand (and sometimes read/
write) at least two languages
Society: Presence of at least two language groups
Bilingual education
Use of at least two languages for literacy and instruction
4Ideally, literacy and learning begin with the learner’s first
Competencies
Knowledge, abilities or skills in language or other subjects of the
school curriculum
Curriculum
Teaching plan, content and instructional materials for an education
programme
Dominant group
Most powerful social group of the country due to population
(numerical majority), economics (wealth) and/or politics (power)
Facilitator
Person who helps others to learn; teacher
First Language First MLE Schooling beginning with the L1 for reading, writing and learning,
while teaching the L2 (see multilingual education)
Fluency
High competence in speaking, reading and/or writing
Implementation The process of mobilizing people and resources to carry out a new
programme
Indigenous
Person or group descended from original or early inhabitants of a
region or country
Language minority
Group of people who share a language and often have less power
in society due to population (numerically fewer), economics (less
wealth) and/or politics
Literacy
Ability to read, write, calculate and otherwise use a language to do
whatever is needed in life
may later reject their own language and culture
language, and a second language is introduced gradually
Booklet for Programme Implementers
Glossary of Terms – General
31
Mainstream
Language and culture of the dominant group
4Often refers to schools designed for members of the dominant
Mobilization
The process of organizing a community (and its supporters) to
work together to plan and implement a programme
Multilingual
Individual: Ability to speak/understand (and sometimes read/
write) more than two languages
Society: Presence of more than two language groups
group that do not meet the needs of linguistic minorities
Multilingual
Use of more than two languages for literacy and instruction
education (MLE)
4Ideally this begins with developing the L1 and adding other
languages gradually
Advocacy Kit for Promoting Multilingual Education
32
Non-Governmental Organization (NGO)
Agency that is not part of any national government, often working for community development
Orthography Standardized system for writing a language, including a script and
rules for spelling and punctuation (see also writing system)
Partners
Individuals, organizations and agencies that collaborate with
communities to implement a new programme
Submersion
Use of a second/foreign language for all instruction, with little or
no help for learners
Sustainability
Setting up a programme so that it will continue for a long time
Transfer
What is learned in the L1 contributes to competence in other
languages; one only needs to learn to read once
Writing system
Graphic representation of a spoken language (see also
orthography)
Advocacy Kit for
Promoting Multilingual Education:
Including the Excluded
Community Members
Booklet
Advocacy kit for promoting multilingual education: Including the excluded.
Bangkok: UNESCO Bangkok, 2007.
5 booklets.
[content: Overview of the kit; Language in education policy and
practice in Asia and the Pacific; Policy makers booklet; Programme
implementers booklet; Community members booklet]
1. Multilingualism. 2. Education policy. 3. Language of instruction.
4. Mother tongue.
ISBN 92-9223-110-3
Cover photo: BUNYAD
© UNESCO 2007
Published by the
UNESCO Asia and Pacific Regional Bureau for Education
920 Sukhumvit Road, Prakanong
Bangkok 10110. Thailand
Printed in Thailand
The designations employed and the presentation of material throughout the
publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of
UNESCO concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its
authorities, or concerning its frontiers or boundaries.
APL/06/OS/082-800
Booklet for Community Members
Booklet for Community
Members
Introduction
For many children from minority language communities, school is an unfamiliar place that
teaches unfamiliar concepts in an unfamiliar language. The children’s own knowledge and
experience – learned from their parents and others in their home community – have no
place in the formal school system. If the parents do not speak the official school language,
they are effectively excluded from participating in their children’s education. One parent
described his community’s experience with “mainstream” (dominant language) schools in
Papua New Guinea:
When children go to school, they go to an alien place. They leave their parents,
they leave their gardens, they leave everything that is their way of life. They sit in
a classroom and they learn things that have nothing to do with their own place.
Later, because they have learned only other things, they reject their own.1
This booklet describes learner-centered and community-centered education programmes
in which children begin their education in their home language and also learn the official
school language (and other languages, as required). In these programmes, the knowledge
and experience the children have learned from their parents and communities are honored
and form the foundation for further learning. These programmes, known as “Mother Tonguebased Multilingual Education” (MLE) programmes, are meant specifically for communities
in which learners do not speak the language of formal schooling. Their purpose is to help
learners achieve their educational goals without forcing them to sacrifice their home
language and culture in the process.
The booklet is organized around a set of questions that are often asked by parents, teachers,
administrators and other community members regarding MLE – why is it needed, how does
it work, how does it benefit the learners, and what needs to be done to implement it?
1
Delpit, L. D. and Kemelfield, G. 1985. An Evaluation of the Viles Tok Ples Skul Scheme in the North Solomons
Province. ERU Report No. 51. Waigani, Papua New Guinea, University of Papua New Guinea. pp. 29-30.
Questions and Responses:
Language and Education in Minority Language Communities
Q1: What is the educational situation for many children from minority language
communities? When children begin school they must learn many new things. They must
n Learn about proper school behavior;
n Learn to read and write;
n Learn
new information and concepts in math, science, social studies and other
subjects; and
n Demonstrate
concepts.
that they understand and can use the new information and
Children who do not speak the official school language when they begin school face special
challenges:
Advocacy Kit for Promoting Multilingual Education
n
They must learn the official school language. At the same time, they must try
to understand the new things that the teacher is teaching them in the new
language.
n
They must try to understand the lessons in the textbooks, which are written in the
official school language. If they do not yet understand the language well enough
to grasp the meaning of the lessons, they are forced to memorize words, phrases
and even whole sentences as the teacher reads. Memorization, however, is not the
same as understanding, and so they fall farther and farther behind academically.
n
They must be able to write in the new language. If they do not understand the
language well, they are forced to copy letters, words and sentences from the
chalkboard or from a book, but that does not help them learn to express their
thoughts in written form.
An education official in India has described this problem in a classroom that he visited:
The children seemed totally disinterested in the teacher’s monologue. They stared
vacantly at the teacher and sometimes at the blackboard where some [letters]
had been written. Clearly aware that the children could not understand what he
was saying, the teacher proceeded to provide even more detailed explanation in
a much louder voice.
Later, tired of speaking and realizing that the young children were completely lost,
he asked them to start copying the [letters] from the blackboard. “My children
are very good at copying from the blackboard. By the time they reach Grade 5,
they can copy all the answers and memorize them. But only two of the Grade 5
students can actually speak [the school language],” said the teacher.2
2
Jhingran, D. 2005. Language Disadvantage. The Learning Challenge in Primary Education. New Delhi, A. P. H.
Publishing. p. 1.
Booklet for Community Members
© Xu Xiaofeng (China), provided by the Asia/Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU), Tokyo
A teacher in Papua New Guinea has described the confusion, and even fear, felt by young
learners when they do not understand the official school language:
During my teaching times, I saw that a lot of children were kind of confused. They
were just coming out of the village where their mother and father spoke to them
in their home language. And then, here I was, standing like a giant over these
small young children and talking to them in a strange language. I was frightening
them, rather than encouraging them to learn something...3
Of course, some children from minority language communities do eventually learn the official
school language very well. Some do complete their education and integrate successfully
with mainstream society. But what happens to their relationship with their community? The
sad truth is that when the dominant language is the only language used in the classroom
and when lessons focus only on the dominant society, minority children may forget their
3
Malone, D. 2004. The In-between People. Dallas, Tex., SIL International. p. 17.
own language and lose their knowledge, love and respect for their own culture and home
community.
To summarize, minority language learners who must attend schools that use a language
they do not know face a host of educational, social and other problems. These include:
n
High repetition and dropout rates because they cannot learn in a language they do
not understand;
n
Loss of confidence in themselves as learners because they do not achieve according
to their teachers’ or parents’ expectations;
n
Loss of their language, loss of their love for their heritage culture and loss of respect
for their home community because the message they get in school is that only the
dominant language, culture and society are important;
n
Failure to acquire the knowledge and skills they need to get a good job; and
n
Failure to acquire the knowledge and confidence to take an active part in the
political development of their community and nation. As the Department of
Education in PNG has noted:
[T]he education which the vast majority of children who do not enter the formal
employment sector receive alienates them from the way of life of the people and
does little to equip them with the knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary to
contribute positively to community or national development.4
Q2: How does a Mother Tongue-based MLE programme help children do better in school?
Good education in any language is guided by two basic principles:
Advocacy Kit for Promoting Multilingual Education
1. Learning involves meaning: We might be able to memorize, but we cannot really
learn something that does not make sense to us.
2. Learning involves going from the known to the unknown: We learn best when
we use what we already know to help us understand and use new ideas and
information.
Small children experience meaningful learning long before they begin school. They learn
about relationships as they interact with their parents and others in the community. They
learn about nature and the environment from the world around them. They sort and classify
things and compare weights and distances as they go about their everyday activities. They
evaluate the things that people say and do according to their understanding of what is good
and bad, useful and harmful, appropriate and inappropriate. This wealth of knowledge and
experience forms the foundation for learning throughout life.
4
Department of Education. 1991. Education Sector Review. Waigani, Papua New Guinea. p. 7.
Booklet for Community Members
© CARE Cambodia
The same is true for language. Long before they begin school, children use their home
language as a tool for communication and learning:
n
They listen to their parents and elders;
n
They ask questions about things they do not understand and listen to responses;
n
They follow instructions;
n
They talk about their ideas;
n
They describe what they see and explain what they think;
n
They count objects and do simple calculations; and
n
They argue with their friends (and sometimes with their parents).
Through these interactions, children gain fluency and confidence in using their home
language meaningfully for a variety of purposes. They bring this knowledge about their
language with them when they begin school.
Using what the learners already know…
Good schools and good teachers recognize that the children’s home language, knowledge
and experience are all valuable resources for learning. They use the children’s language for
teaching, especially in the early grades, so that the children can make sense of the lessons.
They use locally familiar examples to introduce new concepts so that the children can use
their knowledge and experience to help them understand the concepts. They provide early
reading materials in the children’s language, about people, places and activities that are
familiar to them so the children find that reading is meaningful and exciting. They encourage
children to­­ write creatively in their own language about things they know and think about
to help them gain confidence in their ability to communicate their thoughts and ideas in
written form. All of these activities help the children to build a strong educational foundation
that leads to successful life-long learning.
Here is what educational researchers say about the value of building a strong foundation in
the home language:
The level of development of children’s mother tongue is a strong predictor of their
second language development… Children…with a solid foundation in their
mother tongue develop stronger literacy abilities in the school language.5
Advocacy Kit for Promoting Multilingual Education
© SIL International
5
Cummins, J. 2000. Bilingual Children’s Mother Tongue: Why Is It Important for Education? http://www.
iteachilearn.com/cummins/mother.htm (Accessed on 17 November 2006)
… to learn what is new
As children gain fluency in using their home language in the classroom, they also begin
learning the official school language – first listening and speaking, then reading and
writing. This process builds on another educational principle: We only learn to read and write
one time. The children have already learned to read and write in their home language. They
have begun building fluency in hearing and speaking the official school language. This
prepares them to learn to read and write the official language more easily and with greater
confidence.
Booklet for Community Members
In other words, starting in the home language is not a waste of time. It does not take
away from the children’s ability to learn the new language. In fact, it is the children’s most
important resource for learning the new language.
In a good MLE programme, the children continue to use both languages – hearing and
speaking and reading and writing – for communication and for learning, ideally at least
through primary school.
When children continue to develop their abilities in two or more languages
throughout their primary school years, they gain a deeper understanding of
language and how to use it effectively. They have more practice in processing
language, especially when they develop literacy in both, and they are able to
compare and contrast the ways in which their two languages organize reality.6
Q3: What do parents and teachers think about using the home language in the
classroom?
Mother Tongue-based MLE programmes have been established in many minority language
communities around the world. Most teachers, principals and parents of children in those
programmes have found that students who begin learning in their home language:
6
n
Have more confidence in themselves as learners;
n
Participate more actively in classroom discussions;
n
Ask more questions;
n
Demonstrate a deeper understanding of the subjects;
n
Learn to read more easily and understand what they read;
n
Learn to write more easily and express themselves better in written form; and
n
Learn the school language – oral and written – more easily and with greater
comprehension.
Cummins, J. 2000. Bilingual Children’s Mother Tongue: Why Is It Important for Education? http://www.
iteachilearn.com/cummins/mother.htm (Accessed on 17 November 2006)
©UNESCO/D. Riewpituk
A district education division supervisor has described the difference she observed when she
visited classes:
Before, the children just sat in class, but they didn’t say anything. They didn’t even
know how to answer the teacher’s questions. Now they always have their hands
up! They have so much to say. Now this is an active, excited group of children.7
Advocacy Kit for Promoting Multilingual Education
Parents are also happy because good MLE programmes strengthen children’s love and
respect for their heritage language and culture. As a parent from PNG has explained:
Now my child is in [local language] school. He is not leaving his place. He is
learning in school about his customs, his way of life. Now he can write anything
he wants to in his home language. Not just the things he can see, but things he
thinks about, too. And he writes about this place. He writes about helping his
mother carry water, about digging sweet potatoes, about going to the garden.
When he writes these things, they become important to him. He is not only reading
and writing about things outside, but learning through reading and writing to be
proud of our way of life. When he is big, he will not reject us. It is important to
teach our children to read and write, but it is more important to teach them to be
proud of themselves, and of us.8
7
Personal communication from a teacher in the Regional Lingua Franca Programme in the Philippines to
Susan Malone, SIL International, in 2001.
8
Delpit, L. D. and Kemelfield, G. 1985. An Evaluation of the Viles Tok Ples Skul Scheme in the North Solomons
Province. ERU Report No. 51. Waigani, Papua New Guinea, University of Papua New Guinea.
Successful Mother Tongue-based MLE programmes require cooperation and support from
many people. Most important is that the community members want the programme and
are prepared to take ownership of it. Support from school principals, teachers and other
education officials is also necessary if the programme is to grow and be maintained.
The following section offers suggestions for communities that want to start a strong MLE
programme.9 Some of the activities described below will continue through the life of the
programme; others will last for a shorter period of time. In some places, a particular activity
may already have taken place (for example, a language might already have a writing system).
In other places, nothing has been done yet, and the community needs to start at the very
beginning with its partners.
Build a supportive
political environment
Encourage support
from outside agencies
and organizations
Evaluate and
document progress
Recruit
and train people
to work
in the programmes
Collect information
for planning
Raise awareness;
mobilize partners
Components of
Mother Tongue-based
MLE programmes
Establish
a writing system
for the language
Develop teaching
and learning materials
Create
reading materials
in the language
Build a supportive political environment. Policymakers and other authorities must be
mobilized to establish political (and financial) support for Mother Tongue-based MLE
programmes. Before they can do that, they need to understand the purposes and benefits
of the programmes. Language communities and their support networks can take the
first step in building a supportive political environment by starting their own small-scale
programmes outside the formal education system, such as pre-primary and after-school
9
Booklet for Community Members
Q4: What can we do to establish a Mother Tongue-based MLE programme in our
community?
Malone, S. 2004. Planning community-based education programmes in minority language communities.
Resource manual for mother tongue speakers of minority languages. Unpublished manual.
10
© CARE Cambodia
Advocacy Kit for Promoting Multilingual Education
classes. They can do this without waiting for formal policies to be in place. The success of
these individual programmes can make a powerful statement about the value of MLE and
help to encourage others to begin building the necessary political support.
Although members of a minority language community may not have access to high-level
government officials or have a voice in developing policies they can develop cooperative
relationships with other language groups, government agencies, NGOs and others. Working
together, these groups have a much stronger voice then they would have on their own.
Building relationships, therefore, should be an early and on-going priority for bringing
about and sustaining changes “at the top”.
Collect information for planning the programme. Strong and sustained MLE programmes
respond to the needs and goals identified by people in the community – especially learners
and/or their parents. A priority for planners is to learn from parents and other people in
the community about the current education situation, asking them to describe their
educational goals for their children and to identify strengths and weaknesses in the current
system. Wise planners also gather information about resources within the community that
could be used in the MLE programme (e.g. suitable buildings, people with good language
skills, relevant written materials in the language) and about factors that might hinder
programme implementation and sustainability. The process of collecting information
provides programme leaders with an excellent opportunity to raise awareness about the
Raise awareness; mobilize partners. Many parents think that, in order to become fluent
in the official school language, their children need to learn the new language as quickly
as possible and use it as much as possible. They are afraid that any time spent using the
children’s home language in school means less time, and even less success in learning
the second language. But educational research has shown that just the opposite is true.
Building a strong educational foundation in the first language helps children learn the
second language more easily.
Booklet for Community Members
programme (see next activity). Research, along with awareness-raising and mobilization,
should continue as the programme expands to additional communities.
Parents need to understand the benefits of using the children’s first language in school
so they will feel more confident about enrolling their children in the programme. Other
community members need information and encouragement so they will take active roles in
supporting the programme (e.g. maintaining classrooms, helping to teach classes, creating
reading materials). Support from local and district education officials will also be necessary
if the programme is to be successful and sustained. Awareness-raising and mobilization
activities should provide parents and other potential partners within and outside the
community with information about the programme and encourage them to be actively
involved in planning, implementing, and maintaining the programme.
Establish a writing system for the language. If the local language has not yet been put
into written form, the community will need to select the symbols or letters for their writing
© UNESCO/D. Riewpituk
11
system. A linguist who is familiar with the language can help mother tongue speakers
make decisions about which symbols or letters to use. Once the community has created a
tentative writing system, they need to test their choices and make revisions, as necessary.
The idea of developing a writing system for a previously unwritten language may sound like
a difficult task, but in past decades many language communities have done it with great
success. Once the writing system has been developed, the community can begin creating
written literature and preparing materials for the MLE programme.
Develop teaching and learning materials. Teaching and learning materials for an MLE
programme should: 1) provide learners with the knowledge, skills and confidence to achieve
their educational goals; and 2) continue building on their love and respect for their heritage
language and culture.
12
In strong MLE programmes, local and district education officials, including teachers and
principals, work together to develop educationally sound teaching and learning materials.
They know the expectations for learners in each grade of primary school and can identify the
basic competencies that the children must achieve by the time they enter the mainstream
system. The role of the community is to ensure that the teaching and learning materials
build on the language, knowledge and experience the children already have when they
begin the programme. Community members also help to ensure that the programme
maintains a strong heritage language and culture component.
Create reading materials in the community language. Children in the MLE programme will
need a variety of reading materials in their own language and later in the new language.
Early reading materials should be in the children’s home language, written by mother tongue
speakers about familiar people, places and activities. When the children start reading in the
new language, they will need reading materials – from short and simple to longer and more
complex – in that language, as well.
Advocacy Kit for Promoting Multilingual Education
Experience in language communities throughout Asia and the Pacific have shown that
fluent mother tongue speakers can produce an enormous variety of reading materials in
their languages. Here are some examples of the kinds of materials they can develop:
Original stories
Songs & poetry
Biographies & histories
Folktales & legends
Jokes, riddles & wise sayings
Travel & geographic
information
Instructions & directions
Religious & moral teachings
Dramas & skits
Alphabet books
Simple dictionaries
Activity books Games
Announcements
Calendars
Planning books
Letters
Signs
News sheets & newsletters
Health & other information
Booklet for Community Members
13
© SIL International
Experience in many language communities has also shown that brightly colored, expensive
reading materials are not required, especially for new readers. In most cases, neatly
produced booklets with black-and-white line drawings are acceptable if resources are
limited, especially when the stories are interesting to the readers and appropriate to their
reading ability. The most important points to remember in producing reading materials for
new readers are that: 1) the content should be interesting to them, 2) the language should
be clear and understandable, and 3) the illustrations should help them to understand the
text.
Recruit and train people to work in the programme. The table on the following page lists the
staff needed for an MLE programme, along with suggestions for their responsibilities and
qualifications.
Whether the teachers and other staff are volunteers or are paid a salary, they will require
the encouragement and support of the entire community, including parents. An important
early activity is to establish a committee of local leaders who will help with selecting staff
and will see that members receive the support they need to do their work well.
Staff
Main responsibilities
General qualifications
Teachers (May Teach classes (local and official languages)
Speak, read and write both languages
need two, one for
Assess learners’ progress competently
local language Maintain records of attendance, progress
Understand and appreciate the local culture
and one for Interact with parents, other community
Have clear and legible handwriting
official language) members
Be selected and approved by the community
Writers, artists, Writers: Write, adapt, and translate reading
Speak, read and write the L1 competently
editors materials in the L1 and L2
Understand and appreciate the local
Artists: Illustrate the materials culture
Editors (and writers): Check the materials for
Be recognized in the community as good
clarity, language, punctuation and spelling storyteller and/or artist
Evaluation team: Check the materials locally Be literate in the L2 and able to adapt
and revise them as necessary materials from the L2 into the L1
or vice-versa
Draw pictures that reflect the local culture
and society (artists)
Understand L1 grammar and punctuation
rules (editors)
Be selected and approved by the community
Advocacy Kit for Promoting Multilingual Education
14
Supervisor / trainer Visit classes regularly; identify teachers’ Speak, read and write the L1 and L2
strengths and weaknesses; help teachers competently
when they have problems
Be knowledgeable about the history and
Assess learners’ progress culture of the language group
Make sure accurate records are kept
Be able to interact with government officers,
Seek community input in programme school officials and NGO leaders
management and assessment of progress
Be able to communicate abstract ideas and
Conduct pre-service and in-service training model good teaching techniques (trainer)
for teachers
Have experience in teaching the L1
Ensure that adequate classroom supplies are (trainer, supervisor)
on hand
Be selected and approved by the community
Advisory Serve as advisors to programme leaders
Understand the purpose and goals of
committee
Help organize recruitment efforts the programme
Liaise between staff and community;
Be committed to the programme and willing
communicate the goals, objectives and to work together for its success
activities of the programme to the community Be selected and approved by the community
Encourage the community to help maintain
the classrooms and classroom materials
If possible, raise funds to support the programme
Ensure accountability in the use of funding
and other resources
Evaluate and document progress. If the MLE programme is established within the formal
education system, education officials will be responsible for assessing students’ academic
progress. However, evaluations of MLE programmes should also assess the community
members’ satisfaction with the programme in meeting their own cultural and educational
goals. When members of the local community participate in documenting and evaluating
their own programme, reports will more likely reflect the value of the programme to the
community, itself.
Booklet for Community Members
Support from outside agencies and organizations. Successful MLE programmes require
cooperation and support, including financial support, from both within and outside the
language community. Only mother tongue speakers of the language can produce the
reading materials, teach the classes and judge the programme’s success in meeting
community goals. Outsiders can help in other specific aspects of the programme such as
developing the writing system, developing the curriculum, training teachers, evaluating
the programme and finding on-going funding sources. Developing linkages with as many
outside agencies as possible will be another important task for programme leaders.
15
© UNESCO/D. Riewpituk
Q5: Can it be done? Can communities, with help from supportive partners, establish and
sustain their own MLE programmes?
The experience of one language group in PNG may help to answer that question:
In the mid-1980s, the 30,000 Kaugel people were concerned because their children,
most of whom spoke only their own Kaugel language, were doing poorly in the
governmental English-only education system.
To prepare their children more adequately for formal education, local leaders,
with early support from an NGO operating in their area, decided to establish a
First Language First education programme in which children would learn to read
and write in their own language before they entered primary school. They formed
the Kaugel Non-Formal Education Association (KNFEA), composed of community
members, government workers, and religious leaders, to guide and support the
programme.
Programme leaders recruited mother tongue speakers as writers, artists and
editors. Within two years, they had written, illustrated, edited and produced (on
a hand-operated duplicator) over a hundred graded reading booklets for preprimary classes. When these booklets had been tested and revised, programme
leaders learned how to write proposals for funding to produce larger quantities
of the reading materials.
16
Local people who had at least six years of primary education were recruited
as teachers for the pre-primary classes. An experienced teacher, who was the
programme coordinator, trained others as trainers for literature production and
teacher training workshops. With help from the supporting NGO, programme
leaders initiated an income-generating project to provide funding that was
used to provide a small stipend for each teacher. Relationships were developed
with local government agencies, other NGOs, businesses and the Provincial
Non-Formal Education Division. These partners supported the programme by
providing financial and/or other resources, including classroom space and school
supplies.
Advocacy Kit for Promoting Multilingual Education
More than twenty years after it was started, the children’s education programme
continues to be maintained under the sponsorship of the KNFEA. In the late 1990s,
the programme was incorporated into the Government’s education system and
children who complete the Kaugel language classes continue their education in
the English school system.10
10 The Kaugel First Language First education programme is located in the Western Highlands Province of
Papua New Guinea.
Booklet for Community Members
Most parents want their children to get a good education, but they also hope that their
children will maintain their love and respect for their heritage language and culture, and for
their home community. Parents want their children to become confident and self-motivated
learners as well as productive members of their communities. By working together, and with
the support of partners outside the community, they can make a good beginning towards
achieving those goals.
17
© SIL International
References
Cummins, J. 2000. Bilingual Children’s Mother Tongue: Why is it Important for Education? http://
www.iteachilearn.com/cummins/mother.htm (Accessed on 17 November 2006)
Delpit, L. D. and Kemelfield, G. 1985. An Evaluation of the Viles Tok Ples Skul Scheme in the
North Solomons Province. ERU Report No. 51. Waigani, Papua New Guinea, University of
Papua New Guinea.
Department of Education. 1991. Education Sector Review. Waigani, Papua New Guinea,
Department of Education.
Jhingran, D. 2005. Language Disadvantage. The Learning Challenge in Primary Education. New
Delhi: A. P. H. Publishing.
Malone, D. 2004. The in-between people. Dallas, United States, SIL International.
Advocacy Kit for Promoting Multilingual Education
18
Malone, S. 2004. Manual for Developing Literacy and Adult Education Programmes in Minority
Language Communities. Bangkok, UNESCO.
Malone, S. 2005. Planning community-based education programs in minority language
communities. Resource manual for mother tongue speakers of minority languages engaged
in planning and implementing education programs in their own communities.
Dominant language Language spoken by the dominant social group, or language that
is seen as the main language of a country
4May have official or national language status even if it is not
Heritage language
Language of a person’s ancestors or ethnolinguistic group
Home language
Language spoken in the home (see also L1, mother tongue)
4Some people have more than one home language
L1
First language, native language (see also mother tongue, home
language, local language)
4Refers to language or languages learned from birth
L2
Second language, non-native language, language of wider
communication, or foreign language
4Often refers to contexts where the language is spoken in the
4For ethnolinguistic minorities, the L2 is usually an official and/or
Language of instruction
Language used for teaching and learning the school curriculum,
also called medium of instruction
Lingua franca
Widely spoken language used for communication between
ethnolinguistic groups
Example: Tok Pisin in PNG
Local language
Language spoken in the immediate community
Booklet for Community Members
Glossary of Terms – Language
spoken by a numerical majority of the national population
wider society outside the home; in bilingual education, refers
to second (official, foreign) language introduced after the L1
national language
4May refer to languages that are not yet fully developed in
written form
Majority language
Language spoken by the majority of people in a region/country
Minority language
Language spoken by a social and/or ethnic minority group
4Sometimes used to refer to the language of a numerically large
group that is not dominant
19
Mother tongue (MT) First language, native language (see also L1, home language, local
language)
4Language that a person: (a) has learnt first; (b) identifies with or
is identified as a native speaker of by others; (c) knows best; or
(d) uses most
Official language
Language adopted by a country for public administrative and
institutional use, often including schools
Example: India has Hindi and English as official languages of the
country and a number of different official state languages
Unwritten language Language that is spoken but not yet used for reading/writing
Advocacy Kit for Promoting Multilingual Education
20
Advisory committee Group of leaders committed to supporting an MLE programme
4Usually composed of mother tongue speakers and members of
Alienation
Being disconnected from one’s own language and culture
4Minority language speakers in dominant language education
Awareness raising
Providing information that can help people achieve the goals and
needs that they have identified for themselves
Bilingual Individual: Ability to speak/understand (and sometimes read/
write) at least two languages
Society: Presence of at least two language groups
Competencies
Knowledge, abilities or skills in language or other subjects of the
school curriculum
Curriculum
Teaching plan, content and instructional materials for an education
programme
Dominant group
Most powerful social group of the country due to population
(numerical majority), economics (wealth) and/or politics (power)
First Language First MLE
Schooling beginning with the L1 for reading, writing and learning,
while teaching the L2 (see multilingual education)
Fluency
High competence in speaking, reading and/or writing a language
Implementation The process of mobilizing people and resources to carry out a new
programme
Interculturalism
Promotion of mutual understanding and tolerance between
ethnolinguistic and/or social groups
Language development
In education: Teaching someone to speak, read and write a
language well
In minority language communities: Promoting oral and written use
of a language, for example by expanding its vocabulary, agreeing
on a written form, and creating books and school materials
Booklet for Community Members
Glossary of Terms – General
partner agencies
may later reject their own language and culture
21
Advocacy Kit for Promoting Multilingual Education
22
Language minority
Group of people who share a language and often have less power
in society due to population (numerically fewer), economics (less
wealth) and/or politics
Literacy
Ability to read, write, calculate and otherwise use a language to do
whatever is needed in life
Mainstream
Language and culture of the dominant group
4Often refers to schools designed for members of the dominant
Migrant
Person or group that has moved from one region to another
Mobilization
The process of organizing a community (and its supporters) to
work together to plan and implement a programme
Multilingual
Individual: Ability to speak/understand (and sometimes read/
write) more than two languages
Society: Presence of more than two language groups
group that do not meet the needs of linguistic minorities
Use of more than two languages for literacy and instruction
Multilingual education (MLE)
4Ideally this begins with developing the L1 and adding other
languages gradually
Non-Governmental Organization (NGO)
Agency that is not part of any national government, often working
for community development
Orthography Standardized system for writing a language, including a script and
rules for spelling and punctuation (see also writing system)
Partners
Individuals, organizations and agencies that collaborate with
communities to implement a new programme
Sustainability
Setting up a programme so that it will continue for a long time
Writing system
Graphic representation of a spoken language in letters or symbols
(see also orthography)